Underwood International College (UIC) is a college of Yonsei University

Yonsei University

Yonsei University is a Christian private research university, located in Seoul, South Korea. Established in 1885, it is one of the oldest universities in South Korea, the top private comprehensive universities in South Korea, and is widely regarded as one of the top three comprehensive...

, a private university based in Seoul

Seoul

Seoul , officially the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea. A megacity with a population of over 10 million, it is the largest city proper in the OECD developed world...

, South Korea

South Korea

The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...

. UIC is the newest undergraduate college at Yonsei University, and is the only program at the university to conduct classes exclusively in English. It aims to provide a liberal arts

Liberal arts

The term liberal arts refers to those subjects which in classical antiquity were considered essential for a free citizen to study. Grammar, Rhetoric and Logic were the core liberal arts. In medieval times these subjects were extended to include mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy...

 program rivaling the top liberal arts colleges in the world. The first class was admitted in the spring semester of 2006.

History

Underwood International College was founded in February 2005 as an independent liberal arts college of Yonsei University.

Mission

From the official UIC website:

Our educational goals are to bring together students from diverse, multinational, multiethnic backgrounds, and to provide them with a world-class education that will emphasize the following qualities:

• Creative Thinking
  • Independent and empathetic understanding based on critical reasoning
  • Problem-solving abilities
  • Effective communication skills

• Democratic Citizenship
  • Dedication to public service
  • Tolerance, civility, and respect for diversity
  • Responsible civic participation

• Global Leadership
  • Informed and balanced understanding of international affairs
  • Regional and global engagement on the basis of cosmopolitan values
  • Capacity for building ties between East Asian and other cultural traditions

Majors

UIC majors include Comparative Literature and Culture; Economics; International Studies; Life Science and Biotechnology; and Political Science and International Relations.
In addition to these five majors, UIC also offers minors in Korean Studies and a certificate in Creative Writing.

In the future, more majors will be available to students.

Student and Faculty Body

UIC currently has approximately 700 registered students. The students of UIC are made up of mainly Korean students with experience living and studying abroad, but increasing numbers of non-Korean students have been admitted. UIC is the only English-based four-year degree program in Korea that has successfully attracted large numbers of non-Korean students to create a truly international and multi-cultural student body. The great diversity of the UIC student body is what makes this institution unique in Korea.

The faculty is composed of both full-time foreign professors and English-speaking Korean professors from the rest of Yonsei University. There are currently fifteen foreign professors within the UIC common curriculum who teach World History, World Literature, Critical Reasoning, Research Methods and Creative Writing. An additional nine foreign jointly-appointed professors join over a hundred Korean professors who teach in the various majors. Yonsei University plans to hire eventually more than thirty foreign professors to assist in the operation of both the UIC common curriculum and the UIC majors. The Dean of UIC is Professor Chung Min Lee.

Distinguished Visiting Faculty seminars are held regularly. Many notable Nobel Prize

Nobel Prize

The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...

 winning professors have held intensive two-week courses at UIC, including Kurt Wüthrich

Kurt Wüthrich

Kurt Wüthrich is a Swiss chemist and Nobel Chemistry laureate.-Biography:Born in Aarberg, Switzerland, Wüthrich was educated in chemistry, physics, and mathematics at the University of Berne before pursuing his Ph.D. under the direction of Silvio Fallab at the University of Basel, awarded in 1964...

.

Student activities

• Cultural Arts and Theatre Society(CATS) was established in 2007 as a forum for UIC students to celebrate and express their passion for the arts. Every semester CATS publishes a literary magazine called The Lab featuring works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art and photography by students. So far it has published five editions. CATS also engages in making films which are featured at the Literary Art Salon, held at the end of every semester. Here students can come to promote creative writing and visual arts and share their work with the larger community. (Blog: http://catsliterature.tumblr.com)
• INSUFF is UIC's basketball team, which offers students an opportunity to participate in intermural competitions.
• Underwood United is UIC's official football (soccer) team.
• Underwood Union is an active debate club.
• The UIC Scribe is a club that produces UIC's official newspaper.
• NODAJI (formerly known as, No Dodge) is a band, which debuted on May 11, 2007. NODAJI focuses on primarily rock music. However, they occasionally perform ballad songs. There are around 20 members, but not all perform at the same time. The band plays songs by other famous bands like Muse, Yellowcard, and Cherryfilter (Korean rock bands).
• Major Assets and Development of Equity was founded in 2010 at UIC with the main purpose and aim to promote and develop sustainable and diversified hands-on investment skills with actual funds among its members. This development fund is aimed at providing financial aid and annual scholarship opportunities for UIC students in financial need that exhibit good academic and merit-based standings. The club also holds a monthly lecture series that hosts a wide variety of distinguished business leaders, policy makers, and Government Officials. (Official website: http://www.investmentgroup.co.kr)
• Underwood Global Community, is UIC's international student club, providing support to permanently enrolled foreign students at UIC and Yonsei University. Its mission is to create a vibrant global community within the student body of UIC, to encourage cultural exchange and understanding between students of different nationalities and cultural backgrounds, to help accommodate foreign students coming to UIC, and to represent the interests of its members.

In addition to clubs formed at UIC, students participate in dozens of clubs throughout Yonsei University.