Ewha Womans University

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Ewha Womans University
이화여자대학교

Motto Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
眞 · 善 · 美
Established May 31 1886 as Ewha School, college-course installed in 1910, re-established as a university on August 15 1945.
Type Private
Staff 369 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
President Lee Bae-Yong
Faculty 856Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Students 19,503Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Undergraduates 14,904Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Postgraduates 4,559Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Location Seodaemun, Seoul South Korea
Campus Urban
587,159  Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name cannot be a simple integer. Use a descriptive title
Website www.ewha.ac.kr
Ewha Womans University
Hangul 이화여자대학교
Hanja 梨花女子大學校
Revised Romanization Ihwa Yeoja Daehakgyo
McCune-Reischauer Ihwa Yŏja Taehakkyo


Ewha Womans University (Korean: 이화여자대학교, Hanja: 梨花女子大學校), refers to a private women's university in central Seoul, South Korea. One of the city's largest institutions of higher learning, the world's largest female educational institute, Ewha ranks with the best-known universities in South Korea, and the top women's university. Mary F. Scranton, an Methodist Episcopal missionary from the United States, founded Ewha in 1886. The pear blossom represents the school flower, a Sino-Korean term for the school's name. While "Womans" seems grammatical mistake in the name, in the late 19th century, at the time of the university's founding, "womans" (as opposed to women's or woman's) constituted the correct english spelling.

History

Ewha Womans University traces its roots back to Mary Scranton's Ihwa Hakdang (also Ewha Hakdang; 이화학당 梨花學堂) mission school for girls, opening with only one student on May 31, 1886.[1] Emperor Gojong bestowed The name, meaning “Pear blossom academy,” the following year. The school began to provide college courses in 1910, and professional courses for women in 1925. Immediately following liberation of Korea on August 15, 1945, the college received government permission to become a university, the first South Korean university officially organized.

Ewha holds many firsts in Korean history: Korea's first female doctor, Esther Park; Korea's first woman to get a doctoral degree, Helen Kim; the first female Korean lawyer, Lee Tai-young; the first female justice on the Constitutional Court, Jeon Hyo-sook, and the first female prime minister, the incumbent Han Myeong-sook, all graduated from Ewha. The "firsts" arises, in part, from Korea's conservative culture that discouraged many Korean women from attending co-ed universities. Ewha's new motto, "Frontier Ewha", captures the zeal to remain at the vanguard of women's education in Korea.

A Timeline of Key Events for Ewha follows:

  • 1886 - In May, Mary F. Scranton, an American Methodist missionary, opens Korea's first school for women in her house with a single student. In November, the Methodist mission completes construction of a school building (the former base of Ewha Womans University) in Jeong-dong.
  • 1887 - King Gojong officially names the school "Ihwa (also Ewha)."
  • 1910 - College courses begin, the same year Japan annexed Korea.
  • 1925 - Ewha Women's Professional School opens.
  • 1935 - The campus moves to its current location.
  • 1946 - Ewha becomes Ewha Womans University, Korea's first university for women, immediately following Korea's liberation from Japanese colonization
  • 1950 - Ewha graduate schools open, on the eve of the outbreak of the Korean War.
  • 1977 - Women's Studies classes begin.
  • 1984 - The School of Continuing Education opens.
  • 1996 - Ewha opens its College of Engineering, the first such school in a women's university.
  • 2001 - Division of International Studies established.
  • 2006 - Ewha offers inaugural Ewha Global Partnership Program and completes the restoration of Ewha Hakdang.


Reputation & Ranking

Ewha Womans University ranks highly selection in terms of admission. According to the Joongang Daily's ranking of universities in Korea, Ewha Womans University ranked 9th in 2003, and 14th in 2004. The university has been ranked within the top three in the NCSI (National Consumer Satisfaction Index) University rankings for four consecutive years.

Areas of Specialization

Ewha concentrates in eight specialization areas: Life science, Nanoscience, IT, Design Technology, Women’s studies, Korean Studies, Business Management and International Studies.

Government and Industory Grants

Life science triggered Ewha's specialization development, representative of the university's eight specialization programs. Winning a 3.5 billion Korean won funding grant in Brain Korea 21 project[1] promoted by the Korean Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development brought Ewha into national prominence. Ewha's life science program received funding of 9.9 billion Korean won from the Ministry of Science and Technology. Ewha's cooperation with industry has been vigorous, earning funding of 9 billion Korean Won from SK Corporation [2] over a three year period and 5 billion Korean Won grant from LF, a life science startup, over five years.

Ewha's Nanoscience program won the spot in Ewha specialization project in 2003. The university established the Division of Nanoscience the graduate school in the same year. The Nanoscience program achieved excellent performance in a short period in industry-academia cooperation with fifteen companies such as Amorepacific, Leadgene, Scinco, and Bipolymed. Life Science and Nanoscience have noted as departments of strength in engineering and natural science programs.

Scholarship and Research Patents

Ewha's life science recorded the highest Impact Factor, a quantitative measure of the frequency with which the "average article" published in a given scholarly journal has been cited in a particular year or period, in Korea recording 8.6 last year. Ewha University holds six international patents and thirteen domestic patents.

Organization

The undergraduate departments of Ewha divide into eleven colleges, one division with sixty-five departments. The graduate school offers thirteen programs. A list of the college departments follow:

  • College of Liberal Arts
  • College of Social Sciences
  • College of Engineering
  • College of Natural Sciences
  • College of Arts (Music/Fine Arts/Design)
  • College of Law
  • College of Pharmacy
  • College of Education
  • College of Business Administration
  • College of Health Sciences
  • University College
  • Division of International Studies

Gallery

The following are some photos of the Campus taken by Anya Gonzalez while studying at Edae as an exchange student, 2005.

Notable alumni

  • Bang Jee Young – Pianist
  • Han Myung-Sook - Prime Minister of South Korea
  • Grace Park - LPGA golfer
  • Yuko Fueki - Japan and Korea-based actress

See also

  • Education in South Korea
  • List of colleges and universities in South Korea
  • List of Korea-related topics

Notes

  1. Lee Jeong-kyu, (2001). The establishment of modern universities in Korea and their implications for Korean education policies. In Education Policy Analysis Archives 9 (27)

References
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External links



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