Sejong University

Overview

Sejong University (SJU) is a private university based in the city of Seoul in South Korea. The university is named after Sejong the Great, who served as the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty and oversaw the creation of the Korean alphabet Hangul.

SJU currently offers undergraduate and postgraduate programs through its colleges and faculties, which include the Colleges of Science, Liberal Arts, Business Administration, Software Convergence, and Electronics and Information Engineering. The university is nationally known for its courses in hospitality and tourism management, dancing, rhythmic gymnastics, and animation. Students can also pursue interdisciplinary studies through SJU's Faculty of Open Major.

The university accommodates international students through its 100% English Track programs, which are available at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Students can also participate in the university's dual-degree and study exchange agreements with universities in Belgium, China, Canada, Malaysia, France, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States, among other countries.

SJU started out as the Kyung Sung Humanities Institute, founded in 1940 by Drs. Youngha Choo and Okja Choi. The institute underwent various changes throughout its existence, eventually becoming a four-year institution as Soodo Women’s College of Education in 1961. The college began offering its first postgraduate programs in 1966. In the late 1970s, the college was renamed to Sejong College and began admitting its first male undergraduate students. The college achieved university status and assumed its current name in 1987.

Today, the university has grown to include over 15 colleges and graduate schools, with its campus located in eastern Seoul. The university's Central Library has also gained recognition as the first Korean library to be sponsored by the World Trade Organization. As "the heart of the university academic program, the SJU University Library contains more than 740,000 volumes of books and more than 40,000 electronic reference materials.

The university has also been recognized for its efforts in promoting academic achievement and innovation. The university's Astrophysical Research Center for the Structure and Evolution of the Cosmos has been recognized by South Korea's Ministry of Science and Technology as the Best New Research Institute and was awarded multiple research grants. The National Research Foundation of Korea also provides funding for the Sejong University's Graphene Research Institute, which has been nationally recognized as a Priority Research Center by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology.

In addition to these facilities, Sejong University has announced its plans for a research complex that houses its own Green Energy Research Institute and Plant Engineering Research Institute.