University hospitals have mainly well-educated and practiced surgeons in Turkey as well as in other developing countries. The aim of the study was to delineate the impact of operation center on the outcome of patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer, in addition to the prognostic factors. One hundred fifty two consecutive patients with stage II and III colorectal cancer treated at Ankara University School of Medicine İbni Sina Hospital, Department of Medical Oncology were retrospectively analysed. The patients operated at a university hospital (group A) were compared with those (group B) operated at other hospitals (community, private hospitals etc.) in terms of prognostic factors, considering age, gender, the location, stage and the differentiation of tumor, the number of resected and involved local and regional lymph nodes, preoperative CEA levels and adjuvant chemotherapy schemas. Patient characteristics of group A and B were similar. The patients in group A had slightly better 5 year overall (51.8% vs. 48.3%) and disease free survival (49.9% vs. 45.7%) advantage over those in group B, but the difference was not statistically significant. We found that the TNM stage of tumor was the only independent prognostic factor in our patients group. Five year overall survivals in patients with stage II and stage III tumor were 72.1% and 42.6%, respectively (p=0.0009). Likewise, 5 year disease free survival in patients with stage II and III tumor were 70.9% and 39.7%, respectively (p=0.0004). Our results showed that the operation center had no significant impact on the outcome of patients with stage II and stage III colorectal cancer. TNM stage of tumor was the only prognostic factor for both disease-free survival and overall survival in our patients group. [Turk J Cancer 2008;38(4):175-183]