Gebze Yücel Pipe High School

Yücel Boru Fen Lisesi is a secondary education institution located in the Gebze district of Kocaeli province. The school was constructed by Yücel Boru Profil AŞ and began educational activities in 2013. It is the first science high school in Gebze district and the third in Kocaeli province.^【1】

The institution opened its doors in 2013 to meet the demand for science high schools in the region. From the year it commenced educational activities, student capacity was set at 120 students for 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016; it was increased to 150 in 2017 and then reduced back to 120 in 2018. The school graduated its first cohort in 2017.^【2】

The school is a public institution under the Ministry of National Education of the Republic of Türkiye (MEB). Its institutional vision is defined as becoming the leading scientific school in Türkiye, while its mission is structured around nurturing generations capable of advancing the country into the future in accordance with the general and specific objectives of the Turkish national education system.^【3】

Class hours are conducted between 08:50 and 16:00. To support the curriculum, Support and Enrichment Courses (DYK) are held on weekdays from 16:35 to 18:00 and on weekends from 08:45 to 15:30. The first foreign language instruction is English and the second foreign language is German. Within the framework of educational technologies, the Fatih Project fiber internet infrastructure is utilized.^【4】

Student admissions are conducted based on central examination scores and percentile rankings. According to 2023 data, the minimum score was 474.875 and the maximum score was 488.705; the corresponding percentile range was between 2.15% and 0.14%. Looking at previous years, the minimum scores were recorded as 454.457 in 2022, 430.800 in 2021 and 444.732 in 2020. When the institution first opened in 2013, the minimum score was 448.613.^【5】

The institution is located in the İnönü Neighborhood of Gebze on İbrahimağa Street. Geographically, it is situated at the lower part of Gaziler Dağı (Yumrukaya) recreation area and above the vehicle inspection station. The campus is equipped with a natural gas heating system. A boarding facility with a capacity of 80 students offers both paid and free boarding options. The boarding facility’s dining hall is also available to day students upon request. There is no staff housing on campus.^【6】

The school’s administration and staff structure are established in accordance with the standards of the Ministry of National Education. Communication and institutional procedures are carried out within the hierarchical framework of the Kocaeli/Gebze District Directorate of National Education.

The student body consists of individuals with high academic achievement. University placement rates were 70% in 2017, 66% in 2018, 72% in 2019, 70% in 2020 and 75% in 2021. Based on the 2020 YKS results, 38 students were placed in medical schools, 15 in dental schools, 3 in pharmacy schools and 47 in various engineering faculties. In the same year, three students ranked among the top 500 and 47 among the top 20,000. Students use shuttle services along the Gebze, Darıca, Çayırova and Istanbul (Kartal, Pendik, Tuzla) routes for transportation.

The school hosts clubs in mechatronics, painting, music and robotics programming. In sports, it has girls’ volleyball, boys’ futsal, boys’ basketball, girls’ table tennis and orienteering teams. Between 2015 and 2019, the school achieved district championships in volleyball, district placements in futsal and basketball, and provincial championship and regional competition placements in orienteering. Additionally, during the 2016-2017 academic year, the school won the Gebze inter-school English debate championship.^【7】

Scientific collaborations are conducted with Gebze Technical University and TÜBİTAK under formal cooperation protocols. TÜBİTAK 4006 Science Fairs were regularly organized in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. On the international level, activities under the Erasmus Plus K229 European Union project are ongoing.^【8】