CES-METU was founded in 1997 at the Faculty of Economic and Administrative Sciences (FEAS) at METU in Ankara, Turkey. It aims to contribute to comparative research on Europe and European integration through an interdisciplinary team of researchers. The Center has been awarded the Comparative European Research Project (CES-CER) in May 2005 within the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme. The research is conducted along three broad core research programs of integration, neighbourhood and cross border issues; social, economic and territorial governance; comparative studies of Europeanization and transformation. CES-METU is also a partner in various research and teaching networks such as EU-CONSENT.

Through the teaching and research strengths of four academic departments at METU (International Relations , Political Science and Public Administration , Economics and Business Administration , it offers two different Masters programmes in European Studies (since 2001) and European Integration (since 2006). CES is also a partner teaching institution in the Masters Programme in Euro-Mediterranean Affairs (MEMA/MAME).