Yonsei University

Yonsei University, established 132 years ago as the first modern higher educational institution in Korea, emerged to play a crucial role in educating and cultivating leaders needed for Korea’s economic development and industrialization. Its main campus lies in the heart of Seoul, while the International Campus, established in 2010 mainly for the education of freshmen, is located in Songdo, Incheon. Its scenic campus had been broadcast internationally as “one of the most beautiful campuses in the world.” The Yonsei International Campus represents a new education paradigm in Asia with the Residential College system and integrated curriculum.
Yonsei University aims to nurture students with capacity for creativity, empathy, and self-motivation. To fulfill this educational goal, the University introduced educational experiments with three main purposes: to cultivate creativity in global-minded students, to promote “learning by doing” through experience-based education, and to implement digital learning by building a Smart Campus (S-Campus). For these purposes, Yonsei University designed various interdisciplinary majors to ensure the training of creative future talents. All students from a wide variety of majors live and communicate with each other, thereby naturally leading to knowledge convergence among disciplines and cultivation of the ability to empathize with others. In addition, the S-Campus built an integrated digital infrastructure to support various student-led educational practices.
Yonsei University faculty members have published extensively in international research publications across all academic fields, thus leading the way to the future. The University not only produces distinguished scholars from its global-minded student body but also invites world renowned professors to teach and participate in joint research projects, including Nobel laureates such as Randy Schekman and Eric Maskin. Recently, Yonsei University welcomed another special advisor in order to actively contribute to the sustainable development of humankind. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined Yonsei University to complete his life-long career objective by achieving the sustainable development goals adopted during his term at the UN. With these initiatives, Yonsei University will continue to enhance its social and global contributions and engagements in teaching, research, and public services.