University Review: Seoul National University, South Korea

Country: South Korea

42nd in World (QS World Ranking 2011)

Legacy:

Seoul National University (SNU), colloquially known in Korean as Seoul-dae (서울대), is a national research university in Seoul, Korea, ranked 20th in the world in publications in a 2008 analysis of data from the Science Citation Index, 4th in Asia (2012) and 42nd (2011) in the world by the QS World University Rankings,^[6] and 13th in Asia and 124th in the world by the 2011 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.In 2009, the Ecole des Mines de Paris - MINES Paris Tech reported that SNU is ranked 5th in the world in terms of the number of alumni currently holding CEO positions in Fortune 500 enterprises.Among its prominent alumni are Ban Ki-moon (current Secretary-General of the United Nations), and LG and Samsung Electronics CEOs.

Founded in 1946, Seoul National University was the first national university in South Korea, and has served as a model for the many national and public universities in the country. Throughout its history, Seoul National University has been regarded as the most prestigious of all post-secondary educational institutions in the country by the general public and consistently recruits top-notch high school students. Seoul National University has been recognized for its leading role in Korean academia, and entry into the university is viewed as a ticket to success. According to data compiled by the Korean Educational Development Institute, Seoul National University spends more on its students per capita than any other university in the country enrolling at least ten-thousand undergraduates, more than one-and-one-half times its peer institutions.

To join the international trend of learning, the university's international headcount is 242 or four percent of the total. Nobel laureates Paul Crutzen, Thomas Sargent, and Fields Medal recipient Hironaka Heisuke are on the faculty roster. 

Present day:

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. The University is slated to expand its academia-industry collaboration, bio-medical research and development, and education-related infrastructure by an additional 58 percent in size and by 33 percent in headcount by 2014.

Designed to ensure that its student body actively collaborate with leading international institutions, the university maintains an undergraduate exchange program with the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Stanford University, and Yale University.^[16] To encourage preparation in a global context, SNU Law School and Harvard Law School students may study at the partner institution for credit. In addition, Seoul National holds a memorandum of understanding with over 700 academic institutions in forty countries, including the country's first ever academic exchange program with the University of Pennsylvania. As part of its comprehensive strategic alliance, the Graduate School of Business offers dual master's degrees with Duke University, ESSEC, and the Peking University, double-degrees at the MIT Sloan School of Management and Yale School of Management,^[20] and upholds MBA-, MS-, and PhD-candidate exchange programs with universities in ten countries on four continents.

Admissions and Scholarships:

 There are two in-takes in a year, Fall and Spring. There are many good scholarships available both from University and other funding organizations.

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