Yonsei University Plans Songdo Campus

Yonsei University will build a 550,000-pyeong campus in Songdo International New City, Incheon, and begin classes for freshmen and sophomores there starting in 2010.

Jung Chang-young, president of the university, and Ahn Sang-soo, mayor of Incheon, signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of the Yonsei University Songdo International Complex at the main building of Shinchon Yonsei University at 3:00 p.m. on January 26.

Yonsei University’s Songdo campus will sit inside the Songdo international academic research complex, which will be built up to 3.5 million pyeong wide on sections five, seven, and 11 of the reclaimed land. The campus will be completed in two phases. The first will be finished by March 2010.

During the first phase of the plan, the university will build lecture rooms, research offices, dorm buildings, and housing for the faculty on land sections five and seven.

During the second phase, it will construct a science and research complex focusing on biotechnology and nanotechnology, a complex for political, economic, and social studies on North Korea and Northeast Asia, and an international studies complex.

The university plans to move its undergraduate colleges to the campus by early 2010 and to admit some 3,000 freshmen that year. The students will live in dorm rooms and will be transferred to the Shinchon campus starting their second year when they decide on their majors.

Yonsei University will step up its internationalization efforts by building large-scale international studies department, establishing local campuses of foreign universities that it has special ties with, and attracting foreign professors and students to the campus.

For this plan, Yonsei University and Incheon will sign a contract for the land needed by this coming July and will start construction in March 2007.

“The university has decided to build a new campus in Songdo International New City in a bid to develop itself into the hub college of the Northeast Asian region,” the university president said. “We plan to make the campus a comfortable and convenient place for both professors and students to live in.”

Mayor Ahn said, “Yonsei University’s construction of networks with other universities in Incheon will boost the local economy and achieve a synergy effect with Songdo International New City.”

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