Seoul National University

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Seoul National University
서울대학교
Motto Veritas lux mea
(Latin, literal translation: "The truth is my light". non-literal: "The truth enlightens me".)
진리는 나의 빛
Established August 22, 1946
Type National
Endowment KRW 134.2 billion[1]
USD 131.5 million
President Lee Jang-Moo
Faculty 1,928[2]
Staff 991[2]
Students 30,869[2]
Undergraduates 20,304
Postgraduates 10,565
Doctoral students 2,973
Location Gwanak, Seoul, South Korea Flag of South Korea
Campus Urban
1.40 km² (Gwanak Campus)
16.57 km², including arboretum and other campuses.
Colors Blue      
Mascot Crane
Affiliations AEARU, APRU, BESETOHA
Website www.snu.ac.kr
Seoul National University Logotype
Public transit access Seoul National University (Line 2)

Airport bus - 603 (from IIA)

Seoul - 501,651,750,5412,
5511,5512,5513,5515,5516,
5518,5614,6511,관악02
Seoul National University
Hangul:
서울대학교
Hanja:
서울大學校
Revised Romanization: Seoul Daehakgyo
McCune-Reischauer: Sŏul Taehakkyo

Seoul National University (서울대학교), abbreviated as SNU (Korean abbreviation 서울대[3]; Seoul-dae), is one of South Korea's national universities, whose main campus is located in Seoul, South Korea. The university is considered the most difficult to gain acceptance to in Korea. This university's official name in Korean used to be Gungnip Seoul Daehakgyo (국립서울대학교) until the end of 1949, but is now simply Seoul Daehakgyo (서울대학교; literally, "Seoul University").

Contents

[edit] Organisation

[edit] Undergraduate colleges

  • College of Humanities
  • College of Social Sciences
  • College of Natural Sciences
  • College of Nursing
  • College of Business Administration
  • College of Engineering
  • College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
  • College of Fine Arts
  • College of Law
  • College of Education
  • College of Human Ecology
  • College of Veterinary Medicine
  • College of Pharmacy
  • College of Music
  • College of Medicine
  • College of Dentistry

[edit] Graduate schools

[edit] Reputation

Based upon its application and acceptance rates, Seoul National University is considered one of the most competitive universities in South Korea. From 1981 to 1987, more than 80% of the top 0.5% scorers in the annual government-administered scholastic achievement test applied only to SNU, many of them unsuccessfully. The fraction of non-SNU applicants among the top 0.1% scorers was below 5%. No comparable data are available for direct comparison between SNU and non-SNU applicants after 1988, due to an extensive change in South Korea's college entrance system.

SNU graduates dominate South Korea's academia, government, politics and business. Similar to University of Tokyo graduates in Japan, the concentration of SNU graduates in legal, official, and political circles is particularly high. Two-thirds of South Korean judges are SNU graduates, although the country's judicial appointment system is based solely on open competitive examinations.[citation needed] In government, slightly more than half of South Korea's elite career foreign service corps, recruited on the basis of a competitive higher diplomatic service exam, are from SNU. Similarly, among the high-ranking government officials who got recruited an equally competitive higher civil service exam, SNU graduates take up more than 40 percent. On the political side, four out of seven presidential candidates in 2002 were SNU graduates. The school is also often criticized by many South Koreans for being elitist and bureaucratic.[citation needed]

It is also one of the so-called "SKY" schools in South Korea. The acronym collectively refers to Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University, three of the country's best-known universities.

The Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings 2006 lists SNU at No. 63.[4]

[edit] History

[edit] Establishment

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Seoul National University was founded on August 22, 1946 by merging 10 institutions of higher education around Seoul area, pursuant to "The law concerning the foundation of Seoul National University" (국립서울대학교설립에관한법령).

The schools merged were:

  • Kyŏngsŏng University (경성대학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Law (경성법학전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Industry Engineering (경성공업전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Mining (경성광산전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Medicine (경성의학전문학교)
  • Suwon Agricultural College (수원농림전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Economics (경성경제전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng College of Dentistry (경성치과의학전문학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng Normal School (경성사범학교)
  • Kyŏngsŏng Women's Normal School (경성여자사범학교)

The first president was Harry B. Ansted.

The college of law was founded by merging the law department of Kyŏngsŏng University with Kyŏngsŏng Law College (경성법학전문학교).

The university's second president was Lee Chunho(이춘호; 李春昊), who served from October 1947.

The university absorbed Seoul College of Pharmacy (서울약학대학) in September, 1950, as the College of Pharmacy. This had previously been a private institution. [5]

During the Korean War, the university was temporarily merged with other universities in South Korea at Busan.

[edit] Debate: Relations with Keijo Imperial University

[edit] Before Gwanak

Originally, the main campus (which embraced College of Letters and Science and College of Law) was located on Daehangno (University Street) in Jongno-gu District. Most parts of the university relocated to a new campus in Gwanak-gu in 1975. Part of the former main campus in Jongno-gu District is still used by the College of Medicine, College of Dentistry and College of Nursing and is now called the Yeongon Campus.

[edit] Moving to Gwanak

At 1975 the main campus of the university moved to the newly constructed Gwanak Campus.

[edit] Recent developments

[edit] Campus overview

[edit] Location

The main gate of of Seoul National University, rather famous by its nickname, the Sha gate
The main gate of of Seoul National University, rather famous by its nickname, the Sha gate
  • Gwanak Campus, the main campus, is located on the southern part of Seoul. It is served by its own subway station on Line 2.
  • Yeongeon Campus, the medical campus, is located in Daehangno(University Street), downtown Seoul.
  • Suwon Campus, the agricultural campus, also called Sangrok Campus(Evergreen Campus) used to be located in Suwon, about 40 km south of Seoul. The agricultural campus moved to Gwanak 2004 autumn, while some experimenting facilities still remain in Suwon.

[edit] Traditions & legends

[edit] Activism

[edit] Criticism

[edit] Notable alumni

[edit] Politics

[edit] Science

[edit] Entertainment

[edit] Literature

[edit] Business

[edit] SNU in pop culture

[edit] Athletics

[edit] References

  1. ^ As of December 2005. Statistics given by Seoul National University Foundation, which is the official fund management organisation of SNU. See this page.
  2. ^ a b c Students and faculty statistics are according to the 2006 University Yearbook, see this page (Korean).
  3. ^ Its official abbreviation in Korean is Seoul-dae (Hangul: 서울대). Seol-dae (설대) is a vulgar abbreviation, and Sha-dae (샤대) is an alternative nick name because the main gate and the logo of the university looks like Hangul '샤'. Nevertheless both Seoldae and Shadae are not official and not used generally.
  4. ^ The Times Higher World University Rankings. The Times Higher Education Supplement. TSL Education.
  5. ^ History of the College of Pharmacy. SNU College of Pharmacy website. Retrieved on July 24, 2005.
  6. ^ Shin, Eunju (申銀珠). "ソウルの異邦人、その周辺一李良枝「由煕」をめぐって (Portrait of a Foreigner's World in Seoul: Yuhi by Yi Yangji)". Niigata University of International and Information Studies.

[edit] Further reading

  • Seoul National University, "서울대학교 40년사"(The 40 years history of Seoul National University), 1986.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Association of East Asian Research Universities

Peking • Fudan • Tsinghua • USTC • HKUST • Nanjing • Seoul National • KAIST • POSTECH • NTHU • Taiwan • Tokyo • Tsukuba • Osaka • Tokyo Tech • Kyoto • Tohoku

v • d • e
Association of Pacific Rim Universities

Australian National • Melbourne • Sydney • UBC • Chile • Fudan • Peking • Tsinghua • USTC • Zhejiang • Taiwan National • HKUST • Indonesia • Keio • Kyoto • Osaka • Tokyo • Waseda • Seoul National • Malaya • UNAM • Auckland • Philippines • FENU • Singapore National • Chulalongkorn • Caltech • Stanford • UC • Oregon • Southern California • Washington

v • d • e
BESETOHA Universities

Peking • Seoul National • Tokyo • Vietnam National

v • d • e
SKY Universities of Korea

Seoul National • Korea • Yonsei

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