Soongsil University is a private Christian university in South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. The campus is located in 511 Sangdo-dong, Dongjak-gu

Dongjak-gu

Dongjak-gu is one of the 25 gu which make up the city of Seoul, South Korea. Its name was derived from the Dongjaegi Naruteo Ferry, located on the Han River which borders the district to the north...

, Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

.

History

Soongsil University was founded on October 10, 1897 in Pyongyang

Pyongyang

Pyongyang is the capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, commonly known as North Korea, and the largest city in the country. Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River and, according to preliminary results from the 2008 population census, has a population of 3,255,388. The city was...

 as a private school by Dr. William M. Baird

William M. Baird

William M. Baird was an American Presbyterian missionary who founded Soongsil University in Korea.Baird was born in Indiana on June 16, 1862. He was educated at Hanover University and McCormick Theological Seminary...

, a missionary of the Northern Presbyterian Church of America

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

The Presbyterian Church , or PC, is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. Part of the Reformed tradition, it is the largest Presbyterian denomination in the U.S...

. In 1900 the school was developed into an official 4-year junior high school. In October 1901 the school was named Soongsil Hakdang . The name, Soongsil , roughly means "Revering [God] ( soong) with Truth and Integrity ( sil)".

In 1905 the Hakdang was permitted by the missionary body to establish a university (called Union Christian College), which was later authorized as a university by Japanese colonial government in March 1912. But in 1925 the school was forcibly reduced to a 4-year technical school of humanities (named , pronounced Sūjitsu Senmon Gakkō in Japanese). On March 4, 1938 the school closed itself in order to protest against the enforcement of Shinto shrine worship.

In August 1945 Korea was liberated from Japanese colonialism, but the effort to restore the Soongsil College did not succeed until after the end of the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. In April 1954 Soongsil College was reestablished in South Korea and in June 1957 it moved to the present-day Sangdo-dong Campus. In 1971 the College was merged with Daejun College ( (not to be confused with present-day Daejeon University

Daejeon University

Daejeon University is a private university located in Daejeon, South Korea. The current president is Lim Yong-Cheol. About 230 instructors are employed. The university also operates 4 Oriental medicine hospitals, two in Daejeon City and two others in Chungju and Chunan.-History:The school first...

) into Soongjun College . In December 1971 the College acquired a university status. In December 1982, Daejeon Campus of Soongjun University was separated and renamed Hannam University

Hannam University

Hannam University is a private Christian university in Daejeon, South Korea. It was founded in 1956. Hannam University has been constantly recognized as one of top universities in Asia ranked 191st in Asia by QS Asian Universities Ranking in 2010....

. In November 1986, Soongjun University was renamed Soongsil University.

Reputation

The first Computer Science Department in Korea was founded here and the department is currently ranked second after Seoul National University in the field of Computer Science in Korea.

Undergraduate Schools

• College of Humanities
• College of Natural Sciences
• College of Law
• College of Social Sciences
• College of Economics & Commercial Relations
• College of Business Administration
• College of Engineering
• College of Information Technology
• College of Core & Specialized Education
• School of Finance

Graduate Schools

• General Graduate School
• Special Graduate Schools
  • Graduate School of Industry
  • Graduate School of Small Business
  • Graduate School of Information Sciences
  • Graduate School of Labor & Industrial Relations
  • Graduate School of Social Welfare
  • Graduate School of Education
  • Graduate School of Christian Studies
  • Graduate School of Global Business

Institutes

• Library and Center for Academic Information
• The Korean Christian Museum
• Educational Institutes
  • Continuing Education Institute
  • Soongsil Language Institute
  • Youth Education Institute
• Research Institutes
  • Institute of Korean Christian Culture
  • Institute of Humanities
  • Institute of Future Technology
  • Institute of Legal Studies
  • Institute of Natural Sciences
  • Institute for Business & Economic Strategies
  • Center for Computer Aided Molecular Design Research
  • Institute of Social Sciences
  • Institute of Information and Media Technology
  • Project Management Center
  • Center for Small & Medium Business Industrial and Academic Cooperation
  • Institute of High-Tech IT Convergence
  • Institute for the Gifted & Talented
  • Business Institute of Information Science
  • Institute of Korea Lifelong Education & HRD
  • Center for Regional Innovation
  • Institute of Management Innovation and Evaluation
  • Institute of Social Welfare
  • Institute of Underwater Acoustic Communication
  • Institute of Korean Traditional Literture and Art
  • Center for Ubiquitous Network Research
  • Center for Electronic Microsystem Packaging
  • Center for University & Industrial Cooperative IT Training and Education
  • Institute of Cultural Content Technology
  • IT Center for Sensory Research
  • Institute of Cultural Missionary Work
  • Institute of Small Business Creation and Management
  • Institute of Artificial Intelligence Robot Development
  • Soongsil Institute of Christian Counsels
  • Institute of Industrial Economics Research

External links

• Official Website (Korean)
• Official Website (English)