President Recep Tayyip Erdogan made a speech at the 2017-2018 Academic Year Opening Ceremony at Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center. Erdogan reminded that one of the methods to improve the quality in higher education is to distinction of mission and specialization, and he announced 5 universities which are focused on regional development under the framework of Higher Education Council. Erdogan mentioned that the specified research universities will receive more support for the represenation of Turkey in the international platforms, so that the nation will achieve considerable strength and different status at international areas.

The research universities in alphabetical order are, Ankara University, Bogazici University, Erciyes University, Gazi University, Gebze Technical University, Hacettepe University, Istanbul University, Istanbul Technical University, Izmir High Technology University and Middle East Technical University.