Robert College

The American Robert College of Istanbul ( or ), often abbreviated as Robert or RC, is a highly selective, independent, co-educational, private high school in Turkey. The school is situated in a wooded campus on the European side of Istanbul in the Beşiktaş district, with the historic Arnavutköy neighborhood to the east and the upscale Ulus neighborhood to the west. Founded in 1863, Robert College is the oldest continuously operating American school outside the United States. Robert College is consistently ranked as the top private high school in Turkey. The school has a long list of notable alumni, including entrepreneurs, politicians, journalists, artists, three Turkish prime ministers, four Bulgarian prime ministers, multiple members of the Turkish cabinet, Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk and philanthropist Osman Kavala. Robert College is a member of the G30 Schools group, and is accredited by the New York State Association of Independent Schools. History In 1863, Robert College was founded in Bebek by Christopher Robert, a wealthy American philanthropist, and Cyrus Hamlin, a missionary devoted to education. Six years after its foundation, with the permission of the Ottoman Sultan, the first campus (currently housing Boğaziçi University) was built in Bebek at the ridge of the Rumeli Castle. At the time, the school was very close to a Bektashi tekke, whose leaders maintained an excellent relationship with the Congregational and Presbyterian founders of Robert College, according to Friedrich Schrader, a German lecturer at Robert College during the 1890s. Hamlin, who became the first president of Robert College, was preoccupied with the construction of the campus such that George Washburn acted as the de facto head of the college from 1871 onwards. In 1877, he was officially named president by the trustees. During his tenure between 1877 and 1903, Washburn "gradually assembled a faculty of distinguished scholars who firmly established the college's academic reputation."