Underwood International College, Yonsei University
In 2005, Yonsei University, the oldest and most prestigious private university in Korea, established Underwood International College (UIC), an English-language honors institution that combines the intimate and rigorous academic environment of a liberal arts program with the resources of a major research university. The goal: to provide a challenging, interdisciplinary, Ivy League-caliber education to an elite student body from around the globe.
To that end, UIC has assembled an impressive full-time international faculty of professors with degrees from renowned institutions such as Harvard, Princeton , Stanford and UC Berkeley. By having preeminent academics devote the one-on-one attention to students for which liberal arts colleges are known, UIC ensures that its graduates become capable critical thinkers, global leaders and responsible citizens. With the majority of classes limited to fewer than 30 students, UIC maintains a supportive and stimulating academic community both at the main campus in downtown Seoul and at the brand new International Campus in Songdo. This community, comprised of students from over 50 countries, prepares UIC's graduates to navigate cultural differences in a global age.
UIC's five academic divisions offer 16 majors spanning the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, providing the breadth and depth of study synonymous with the liberal arts. In addition to this full list of majors, freshmen also participate in UIC's comprehensive, humanities-based interdisciplinary Common Curriculum, which consists of required courses in writing, critical reasoning, literature, history, and philosophy, and others. The Common Curriculum and the majors jointly provide UIC students with exceptional preparation for grappling with even the most complex problems, whether they pursue medicine, law, engineering, business or academia.
Aiming to provide a holistic education, Yonsei University introduced the residential college program for the first time in Korea at the new International Campus in Songdo in 2012. Here, learning and living are fully integrated, and students have access to professors and residential advisors who live on campus, and who can help them negotiate the challenges of college life. Instead of being one among many, UIC students at Songdo spend time with their classmates and professors on a one-on-one basis. With this close and supportive family of peers and professors, students feel at home.
To gain a truly international education, students are also encouraged to participate in one of the many study abroad options offered by UIC. Between Yonsei's close partnerships with 670 peer institutions in over 70 countries and UIC's exclusive exchange programs with elite universities such as UC Berkeley, Barnard, and Dartmouth, UIC's array of academic opportunities will equip students with international connections and regional expertise.
Beyond academics, UIC's signature Global Career Tour and Global Research Competition are among the programs that provide students with the opportunity to explore and test their potential and career options. On the Global Career Tour, a select group of students visit renowned companies and businesses in New York, San Francisco, London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore to gain insight and real-life knowledge from the movers and shakers of today's world.
Outcomes for UIC's graduates have so far been as remarkable as the education itself. The five classes of UIC graduates are currently working at McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, Samsung and Hyundai, and attending graduate school at Harvard Law School, Yale University, Oxford University, among other places. All of this befits Yonsei, ranked among the top 20 private universities in the world (QS World University Ranking), and speaks to the value of UIC's education, a liberal arts college sporting an international outlook.
From its student body to its institutional structure, from its educational philosophy to its commitment to international exchange, UIC is a truly extraordinary community: an intellectual meeting point between East and West, Korea and the World.
Majors offered at UIC:
Comparative Literature and CultureAsian StudiesEconomicsInternational StudiesPolitical Science and International RelationsJustice & Civil LeadershipInformation & Interaction DesignCreative Technology ManagementCulture & Design ManagementQuantitative Risk Management
Sustainable Development & Cooperation
Science, Technology & Policy
Nano Science & Engineering
Energy & Environmental Science & Engineering
Bio-Convergence
Life Science and Biotechnology
