단국대학교

The university was launched based on the financial donations of the late Mrs. Hyedang, Cho Huijae and the former chairperson Park Jeongsook, as well as the educational philosophy of Mr. Beomjeong, Chang Hyong. At the time of its foundation, the university gathered 960 students, with two departments in the Faculty of Law and three departments in the Faculty of Liberal Arts. Professor Chang Dobin was inaugurated as the first dean. Dankook's first entrance ceremony was first among universities established post-independence, and was held on the 8th of December at the Joseon Politics Building. Later the school buildings were relocated to the Cooperation and Harmony Building of the Joseon Electric Company on December 26th 1949 but the unanticipated war with the North, which broke out on the 25th of June, abruptly put an end to the period when the school was located in the Shindang-dong area.

The University once operated a professional school, as well as a Correspondence Faculty in order to open the doors of college education for working students and achieve equality of opportunity. The college returned to Seoul from Busan after the government returned to Seoul following the cease-fire agreement of 1953. This opened the new era with Dankook being located in the Hannam-dong area on July 12, 1957, with its Hannam Campus overlooking the Han River with a backdrop of Mt. Namsan's green forest.

In 1964, Mr. Beomjeong, founder of the university and former chairman of the board, passed away at the age of 76 in 1965. The next year, Park Jeongsook was inaugurated as chairman of the board of the college. On February 10, the college grew to the status of university, and Prof. Chang Chungsik was inaugurated as the first president. In 1978, the Cheonan Campus was constructed in order to expand the range of Dankook's social service capacity. The university secured 1,487,603㎠ of campus ground, thus having two campuses: Hannam-dong in Seoul and Anseo-dong in Cheonan, including the Cheongyang Practical Training Farm. The university maintains the Science Hall, the Nanpa Hall, a gymnasium, an art gallery, the Dental College building, an affiliated hospital, etc. The Toegye Central Library holds around 750,000 books with seating for 3,100 people, with an area of 17,752m2. It opened on September in 1986.

The premedical program was newly approved in October 1987, and the ground breaking ceremony was held for the medical college building and its affiliated hospital on April 29, 1994. It was opened as a general hospital affiliated with the university, equipped with the newest medical facilities including 244 patient rooms and 800 sickbeds, with a dormitory capable of housing 417 people for the welfare of hospital staff members, on August 18, 1994. Dr. Lee Youngwoo succeeded Park Jeongsook as chairman of the board, and was inaugurated on March 19, 1990. After his resignation on August 31, 1993, Kim Hakjun, chairperson of the board, was inaugurated as a successor to acting chairmen Kim Ikbo, Kim Sukhyeon, and Chang Byeongyu on July 18, 1994. On December 12 in 1996, Chang Chungsik, a member of the board of directors, was inaugurated as chairperson of the board.

The 12th school board resolved on November 10, 1994 that it would sell its Seoul Campus and relocate to about 1,057,851m2 of land around Jukjeon, in Gyeonggi-do, south of Seoul. It was intended as a leap towards becoming an advanced, competitive university in this era of globalization and liberalization in the 21st century. The board applied for approval of the transfer plan to the Ministry of Education on November 15, 1994. The ground-breaking ceremony for the new campus of Dankook University was held on July 19, 1996 after receiving the approval of transfer plan and selling its basic property on June 7, 1995 (University Administration No.81400-1401).

The university holds international symposiums and publishes various academic journals, and manages 22 important and specialized research institutes such as the Oriental Study Research Institute, the Information Display Research Institute, the Buried Cultural Property Research Institute and the Special Education Research Institute as well as the Medical Laser Research Institute. It has 20 affiliates and affiliated education organizations such as the Seokjuseon Museum and the Information and Communication Center. As the university grew more and more prosperous as a cutting-edge digital campus, it was selected as the best institute in 10 fields for the general university evaluations of 1999. At the present, the university has a College of Liberal Arts, College of Art and Design, College of Natural Science, College of Social Science, College of Management and Business, College of Engineering, College of Architecture, College of Education, College of Music at the Jukjeon Campus in addition to a College of Cultural Science, College of Social Science, College of Law, College of Management and Business, College of High Technology, College of Engineering, College of Bioresource Science, College of Art, College of Physical Education, College of Medicine, and Dental College at the Cheonan Campus. The graduate schools were approved and opened in 1958 and a total of 12 graduate schools are managed in 65 departments for the master's program and 51 departments for the doctorate program through the Business Graduate School, Juridical Affairs and Administration Graduate School, Education Graduate School, Design Graduate School, Information and Communication Graduate School, Special Education Graduate School, Mass Culture and Art Graduate School, TESOL Graduate School, Real EstateㆍConstruction Graduate School, Policy Management Graduate School, Sports Science Graduate School and Health and Welfare Graduate School at the Jukjeon Campus.