Çanakkale Onsekiz Mart University was founded in 1992 based upon the Faculty of Education on the Anafartalar Campus. Before this the facilities had housed a Teacher Training Institute, then a branch of Trakya University. With its new status and intake from Turkey's large youth population, the university developed quickly in terms of the number of students, staff and facilities, spurring the opening of new faculties and colleges.

The university has expanded rapidly over the last few years and in the 2002–2003 academic year there were over 14,000 students participating in a wide variety of programmes taught by 650 academic staff in 2 graduate schools, 9 faculties, 2 polytechnic colleges (four year programmes) and 11 vocational colleges (two-year programmes). There are several campuses in Çanakkale itself, and some of the academic units are located in other towns of the province.

• Faculty of Sciences and Arts, Çanakkale 18 Mart University