Seoul National University (SNU; ) is a public research university in Seoul, South Korea. Founded in 1946 by the merger of ten institutions in the Seoul area, it is one of the SKY universities and a part of the Flagship Korean National Universities.
The university's main campus is located in Gwanak, and two additional campuses are located in Daehangno and Pyeongchang. The university comprises sixteen colleges, one graduate school and nine professional schools. The student body consists of nearly 16,000 undergraduate and 16,000 graduate students.
History Pre-establishment Seoul National University (SNU) originates from various educational institutions established by King Gojong of the Joseon dynasty. Several of them were integrated into various colleges when SNU was founded later.
To modernize the country, Gojong initiated the establishment of modern higher education institutions. By means of the issue of a royal order, the law academy has been founded on March 25, 1895. It produced 209 graduates including the later envoy Yi Tjoune. Hanseong Sabeomhakgyo (established in 1895), a training school for teachers and Euihakkyo (1899), a medical school, are also considered the origins of respective colleges.
After the proclamation of the Korean Empire in 1897, Gojong, the then emperor, was motivated to create more modern education institutions. In 1899, a medical school was established. This school changed its name several times to Daehan Euiwon Gyoyukbu and Gyeongseong Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo (Gyeongseong Medical College) and finally became College of Medicine of SNU. In 1901, a department for nursing was established, which was the forerunner of the later College of Nursing.
During the Japanese rule, Keijō Imperial University was established as one of Japan's nine imperial universities. After World War II and the independence of Korea, the name of the university was changed from Keijō Teikoku Daigaku (京城帝国大学) to Gyeongseong Daehak (경성대학, 京城大學, Gyeongseong University). The Hanja that were used in the name were pronounced in the Korean reading and the attribute "Imperial" was removed and changed to "National".
Establishment SNU was founded on August 27, 1946, by merging ten institutions of higher education around the Seoul area. The schools which have been merged were: Gyeongseong (Seoul) University (Gyeongseong (Seoul) Daehak, 경성(서울)대학) Gyeongseong College of Education (Gyeongseong Sabeomhakgyo, 경성사범학교) Gyeongseong Women's College of Education (Gyeongseong Yeoja Sabeomhakgyo, 경성여자사범학교) Gyeongseong Law College (Gyeongseong Beophak Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성법학전문학교) Gyeongseong Industrial College (Gyeongseong Gongeop Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성공업전문학교) Gyeongseong Mining College (Gyeongseong Gwangsan Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성광산전문학교) Gyeongseong Medical College (Gyeongseong Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성의학전문학교) Suwon Agriculture College (Suwon Nongnim Jeonmunhakgyo, 수원농림전문학교) Gyeongseong College of Economics (Gyeongseong Gyeongje Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성경제전문학교) Gyeongseong Dentistry College (Gyeongseong Chigwa Euihak Jeonmunhakgyo, 경성치과의학전문학교)
The first president was Harry Bidwell Ansted. For over a year and a half, there was a protest movement by students and professors against the law of the U.S. military government in Korea merging colleges. Finally, 320 professors were fired and more than 4,950 students left the school. The university's second president was Lee Choon-ho (), who served beginning in October 1947.
The College of Law was founded by merging the law department of Kyŏngsŏng University (Keijō Imperial University) with Kyŏngsŏng Law College. The university absorbed Seoul College of Pharmacy in September 1950, as the college of Pharmacy. This had previously been a private institution.
In 1950, during the Korean War, the university was occupied by North Korea. During which, the Seoul National University Hospital massacre occurred. The university then temporarily moved to Busan and merged with other universities in South Korea.
Relocation Originally, the main campus (which embraced the College of Humanities and Sciences and College of Law) was in Dongsung-dong, Jongno District. After the construction of a new main campus in Gwanak District in February 1975, most colleges of the university relocated to the new Gwanak Campus between 1975 and 1979 by the request of president Park Chung Hee who disliked student protests at the site where the (founded in the early 1960s and relocated in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi) was formerly located. Part of the former main campus in Jongno District is still used by the College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry and the College of Nursing and is now called Yeongeon Campus.
In 2012, lawmakers reported that the ruling Saenuri Party, prior to the presidential election in December, seriously proposed a plan to relocate the university to the newly established special autonomous Sejong City. The move came as part of an overall effort to decentralize the capital's governmental apparatus. Originally the national government had approached the university in 2009 to host the building of a satellite campus. It was reported the following year that the university had considered withdrawing from the Sejong plan.
Presidents
Academics Admissions Admissions to SNU are extremely competitive. From 1981 to 1987, when an applicant could apply only to one university at a time, more than 80% of the top 0.5% scorers in the annual government-administered scholastic achievement test applied to SNU and many of them were unsuccessful.
Academic structure Sixteen colleges of the university offer 83 undergraduate degree programs. For master and doctoral programs there is one graduate school with 99 programs from five fields of studies. The interdisciplinary programs are the ones invented and operated by more than two departments. In addition to that, there are twelve professional graduate schools.
Colleges
College of Humanities College of Social Sciences College of Business Administration College of Education College of Fine Arts College of Liberal Studies College of Human Ecology College of Music College of Engineering College of Natural Sciences College of Agriculture & Life Sciences College of Medicine College of Nursing College of Pharmacy College of Veterinary Medicine
Professional Graduate Schools
Graduate School of Data Science Graduate School of Public Health Graduate School of Public Administration Graduate School of Environmental Studies Graduate School of International Studies Graduate School of Business Graduate School of Convergence Science Technology Graduate School of International Agriculture Technology Graduate School of Engineering Practice School of Law School of Dentistry School of Medicine
Campus
Seoul National University occupies two Seoul-based, one Pyeongchang-based campuses: the Gwanak Campus is situated in 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak District; and the Yongon Campus is north of the Han River in Daehangno, Jongno District; and the new Pyeongchang campus in Pyeongchang County, Gangwon Province.
Location Gwanak Campus, the main campus, is located in the southern part of Seoul. It is served by its own subway station on Line 2. Yeongeon Campus, the medical campus, is on Daehangno (University Street), northeast Seoul. The defunct Suwon Campus, the agricultural campus, also known as the Sangnok Campus (Evergreen Campus), used to be located in Suwon, about 40 km south of Seoul. The agricultural campus moved to Gwanak in Autumn 2004, but some research facilities still remain in Suwon.
Future campus plans In February 2010 Seoul National initiated a memorandum with the city of Siheung to establish a global campus. Signed with the city's mayor and governor of Gyeonggi Province for administrative assistance, the university acquired of property in the west-coast economic zone, near the Songdo International Business District, Pyeongtaek harbor, international airport, seaport.
The land acquisition will increase the university's size by 58% over its current 1.4 million square meters (350 acres) to 2.2 million square meters (550 acres) and headcount by an expected 10,000 people or 33% of its current figure. Along with lecture halls and additional liberal arts and graduate courses, the initiative will add a medical complex including a research hospital and training centre, research centre for dentistry and clinical pharmacology, dormitories, apartments, an international middle and high school, and other facilities. Planning to open the international campus in 2014, the university intends to share the initiative with other regional national institutions.
Facilities
Library
The Seoul National University Library is located behind the university administrative building in the 62nd block of the Gwanak Campus. The chief librarian, Dr. Kim Jong-seo, professor of religious studies in the College of Humanities, took office in 2009. Following the completion of Kwanjeong Library in February 2015, the SNU Library reached a size of 57,747 square meters. As of 2022, the library is home to 5.2 million volumes of books as well as over 260,000 academic journals and e-journals, and over 230,000 non-book materials.
The Central Library has constructed a digital library, which in addition to the regular library collection provides access to university publications, ancient texts, and theses. Included here are images of pamphlets, lecture slides, and insects. The digital library offers access to video of university exhibitions, scientific events, symposia, and seminars.
The library was opened in 1946 as the "Seoul National University Central Library" and inherited its facilities and books from Keijō Imperial University. In 1949, the name of the library was changed to the "Seoul National University Library Annex". When the main branch of the library was relocated to the Gwanak Campus in January 1975, it was renamed the "Seoul National University Library", and then renamed again in 1992 as the "Seoul National University Central Library".
In 1966, provisions were made to systematize the library's collections. The original library was organized into 12 annexes for each of the university's colleges: engineering, education, physics, art, law, theology, pharmacology, music, medicine, dentistry, administration, and agricultural sciences. Two years later, in 1968, libraries for newspapers and the liberal arts were added to bring the number of annexes to 14. However, as the main branch was moved to the Gwanak Campus, the education, physics, legal, theological, administrative, newspaper, liberal arts, and pharmacological libraries were combined in a single building.
Kyujanggak
The Kyujanggak, also spelled "Gyujanggak", was the royal library during the Joseon period. It was founded in 1776 by order of King Jeongjo of Joseon, at which time it was located on the grounds of Changdeokgung. Today known as Kyujanggak Royal Library or Kyujanggak Archives are maintained by Kyujanggak Institute for Korean Studies () at SNU. It functions as a key repository of Korean historical records and a centre for research and publication of the annual journal Kyujanggak.
Museum Seoul National University Museum is located at the Gwanak Campus. It opened alongside the university in 1946 under the name "The Seoul National University Museum Annex." The original two-story Dongsung-dong building, which was erected in 1941, had served as the Keijō Imperial University Museum until it was transferred intact to SNU. When the museum was moved to the sixth floor of the Central Library, in 1975, it was renamed the "Seoul National University Museum". The museum was then moved to newly constructed facilities, next to the Dongwon Building, in 1993, which it has occupied to this day. Dr. Park Nak-gyu is its director.
Museum of Art