Bahçeşehir University (BAU) is a private educational institution in Turkey, located at the European side of Istanbul. The Turkish National Assembly authorized the establishment of the University of Bahçeşehir by the Bahçeşehir Uğur Education Foundation in 1998. An academic and strategic protocol was signed shortly after (February 1998) with San Diego State University in California, USA. The enrollment of the first students was made after the first placement exam (ÖSYS) in the 1999–2000 academic year.[9] The university is one of the few universities in Turkey which has its lectures in English and therefore students applying to BAU are required to have high English proficiency.