Yaşar University was founded in 2001 in İzmir by Selçuk Yaşar Sports and Education Foundation with the mission of adopting a culture, art and design culture and producing education, research and services that contribute to the development of the local and global community.

In order to fulfil its objective to create the difference that students need, and to raise individuals equipped with academic and professional knowledge that also have an awareness of social responsibility and of arts, Yaşar University has 2 graduate schools, 9 faculties, 1 school of applied science, 2 vocational schools and a school of foreign languages. 10 doctoral programs, 23 master degree programs, 32 undergraduate programs and 13 associate degree programs are also offered at Yaşar University.

Having been accredited by the Commission on English Language Accreditation (CEA) in 2011 and become the first institution that has been granted CEA accreditation in Turkey in the field of foreign language, Yaşar University was also accredited again for 10 years in 2016 by CEA, and continues to offer high quality English language teaching for students that are learning English as second language. Additionally, students are offered courses to learn a second foreign language including German, French, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Greek in accordance with international standards.

Yaşar University, which has cooperation and exchange agreements in many fields with more than 600 universities from 65 different countries, has been granted the Erasmus Success Story award twice in a decade by the European Commission. Currently, 258 students from over 58 different countries are studying at Yaşar University.

Additionally, Yaşar University has 9484 students, 414 academic staff members and 323 administrative staff members, and the university focuses on offering education of high quality that satisfies expectations of the students interested in making the most of their university years.