Established in 1995, Işık University is a private foundation university located in Istanbul. The university has three faculties, offering 22 undergraduate and 58 graduate programmes. It has two campuses, one in Şile, in the Anatolian side, and one in Maslak, in the European side of Istanbul.

Işık University has a highly international atmosphere; out of its approximately 8.000 students, over 1.000 are from outside Turkey. In the university, the languages of instruction are both English and Turkish. Işık University has more than 100 partnerships with international institutions and is a part of the Erasmus Exchange Program.