Seoul National University (SNU) is the flagship university of Korea and a world-class research institution in Korea. Seoul National University traces its roots back to its foundation in 1946 as the first modern higher educational institution, founded soon after the liberation from the Japanese colonial rule. As the first national university in Korea, SNU has worked to educate leaders in every sector of society, who played central roles in the democratization and economic development of Korea. The SNU faculty and students strugged to continue their studies even in the midst of the Korean War in 1950, when the campus temporarily relocated to Busan to protect the institution from Communist attacks. With an academic culture and spirit that emphasized the importance of education, SNU attracted and retained the most brilliant minds of the nation. SNU promoted top quality teaching and advanced research practices, which inspired its students and graduates to drive the major advances in the scientific and economic development of Korea. Their achievements and success have borne fruit in the semiconductor industry and information technology, to name just a few. From the 1960s to the 1980s, the SNU community was the first to initiate Korea’s democratization. The SNU community actively participated in urging for political movements and congregations, such as the April Revolution in 1960 and the June Struggle in 1987. Since then, SNU now has grown to be Korea’s biggest education institution with 16 Colleges and 10 Graduate Schools. SNU offers more than 100 academic programs. It has about 3,000 full-time faculty and 30,000 enrolled students. SNU consists of four campuses: the main campus in Gwanak, located in the south western part of Seoul, the medical campus in Yeongeon, located in northern-central Seoul close to the old city center, a green-bio campus in PyeongChang, located in Gangwon province, and a campus for Convergence Studies in Suwon, in Gyeonggi province.
