
The Middle East Technical University (METU) can trace its origins back to a UN report by Charles Abrams looking at housing and the state of architectural and planning education in the Middle East. One of Abram's conclusions was that the establishment of a technological institute in Turkey was an undertaking crucial to the future of the country. The UN consequently assisted in the establishing of METU under the name "Orta Doğu Teknoloji Enstitüsü" on 1956. Initially there were programmes for Architecture and City Planning but after the first year these were subsequently expanded to include engineering (civil and mechanical), public administration and industrial management.