Throughout its history, Seoul National University has been regarded as the most eminent of all post-secondary educational institutions in South Korea. It is regarded as the most renowned university by the general public and recruits top-notch high school students.
Today Seoul National University comprises sixteen colleges and six professional schools, with a student body of about thirty-thousand. It has two campuses in Seoul: the main campus in Gwanak, and the medical campus (named Yeongeon Campus after its neighbourhood) in Jongno. SNU is notable for its "fleet-style" system, offering diplomas for virtually every academic field, from aerospace engineering to Western history.
History
Seoul National University was founded on August 22, 1946 by merging ten institutions of higher education around the Seoul area, pursuant to "The Law Concerning the Foundation of Seoul National University." The schools merged were: Kyŏngsŏng University, Kyŏngsŏng Colleges of Law, Industrial Engineering, Mining, Medicine, Economics, Dentistry, the Normal School, the Women's Normal School, and Suwon Agricultural College. The first president was Harry B. Ansted. For over a year and a half, there was a large protest movement by students and professors against the law of the US military government in Korea merging colleges. Finally, 320 professors were fired and more than 4950 students left the school.The university's second president was Lee Chunho (이춘호; 李春昊), who served beginning in October, 1947.
The college of law was founded by merging the law department of Kyŏngsŏng 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.
During the Korean War, the university was temporarily merged with other universities in South Korea, located in Busan.
College of Medicine
Seoul National University Hospital and the College of Medicine trace their history to Gwanghyewon, also known as Jejungwon, which has been claimed as the first western medical institution in Korea, founded by royal support in 1885. This assertion has however been disputed by medical historians, as lacking any tangible evidence.[neutrality disputed]It is widely accepted that Gwanhyewon is instead a direct predecessor to Severance Hospital and Yonsei University's College of Medicine.It is suggested that Seoul National University Hospital and the College of Medicine are related, rather, to Daehan Hospital founded in 1907, which was supported by Japanese Resident-General Itō Hirobumi.
Relocation
Originally, the main campus (which embraced the College of Humanities and Sciences and College of Law was located on Daehangno (University Street) in Jongno. Most parts of the university relocated to a new campus in Gwanak in the period between 1975 and 1979. Part of the former main campus in Jongno is still used by the College of Medicine, the College of Dentistry and the College of Nursing and is now called Yeongeon Campus.
In 1975 the main campus of the university moved to the newly constructed Gwanak Campus.
2006 was the sixtieth anniversary of the university. In January, the university ambitiously announced a twenty-year vision to make Seoul National University a world-leading research based university.
Reputation
SNU graduates dominate South Korea's academics, government, politics and business. 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. 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 were recruited by 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 some South Koreans for being elitist and bureaucratic.
Rankings
The Times Higher Education Supplement World University Rankings 2008 lists SNU at No. 50, going up one rank compared to being listed at No. 51 in 2007. In 2006, this university was listed at No. 63.The Shanghai Jiao Tong university ranking places Seoul National University at No. 164 which places more emphasis on publications in the area of natural sciences as well as on the number of alumni who became Nobel Prize winners. Seoul National also had the third highest number of students who went on to earn Ph.Ds in American institutions in 2006.
Academics
Undergraduate colleges
College of Humanities, College of Social Sciences, College of Natural Science,s College of Nursing College of Business Administration, College of Engineering, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, College of Fine Arts, College of Law (until 2008), College of Education, College of Human Ecology, College of Veterinary Medicine, College of Pharmacy (until 2008) College of Music, College of Medicine, College of Dentistry, College of Liberal Studies (started in 2008)
Graduate schools General programs
Graduate School of Humanities, Graduate School of Social Sciences, Graduate School of Natural Sciences, Graduate School of Engineering, Graduate School of Arts Graduate, School of Medicine Interdisciplinary Programs, Professional schools, Graduate School of Convergence Science Technology, Graduate School of Public Health, Graduate School of Public Administration Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Graduate School of International Studie,s Graduate School of Dentistry, Graduate School of Business
Seoul National University was ranked 5oth in the 2007 THES-QS World University Ranking
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