POSTECH was established in 1986 in Pohang, Korea by POSCO, a steel company.[2]
POSTECH hosted POSCO's Research Institute of Science and Technology (RIST) on campus. In 1994, POSTECH set up the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory (PAL), a 3rd-generation synchrotron light source and now a national facility. PAL-XFEL, a 4th-generation light source X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) was completed in 2016 at the cost of US$390 million, the third of its kind in the world, and will open up new frontiers and research areas in life sciences, materials, chemistry, and physics.[3]
Margaret Thatcher with POSTECH president Hogil Kim in May 1986
Timeline
The Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology is the world's only fully accredited institute in the field of steel science and technology.
December 3, 1986
POSTECH founded by Founding Chairman Tae-joon Park and First President Hogil Kim
March 5, 1987
First matriculation ceremony
March 1, 1989
Department of Life Sciences established
February 7, 1990
First commencement for M.S. candidates
February 20, 1991
Conferment of first B.S. degrees
December 7, 1994
Completion of Pohang Light Source
May 15, 1998
Ranked 1st among Asian science and technology universities by Asiaweek Magazine
February 28, 2000
Pohang Techno Park established jointly with the City of Pohang and POSCO
Selected as an "Excellent University for Educational Reform" for the seventh consecutive year by the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
April 25, 2003
Tae-joon Park Digital Library opens
September 9, 2005
Graduate Institute of Ferrous Technology (GIFT) established
May 30, 2007
National Institute for Nanomaterials Technology established
March 2, 2010
Bilingual campus declared
June 14, 2010
Agreement with Max Planck Society to establish Max Planck POSTECH/Korea Research Initiative
September 16, 2010
Ranked 28th in the World University Rankings by Times Higher Education
July 6, 2011
Department of Creative IT Engineering established
August 20, 2012
Graduate School of Engineering Mastership established
December 1, 2012
Selected as one of the 2012 Top 100 Global Innovators by Thomson Reuters
February 15, 2013
Tae-joon Park Institute opened
May 9, 2013
Groundbreaking of PAL-XFEL
June 13, 2013
Four research centers of Institute for Basic Science established
June 20, 2013
Ranked 1st among the top 100 universities under 50 years old by Times Higher Education
October 7, 2013
Ranked 1st in Joong Ang Ilbo Korean University Rankings 2013
May 2, 2014
Ranked 1st among the top 100 universities under 50 years old by Times Higher Education (three consecutive years)
September 15, 2014
POSTECH Entrepreneurship Center opened (supported by Small & Medium Business Administration)
September 19, 2014
APGC-Lab and a new start-up company (exBrain) opened
October 6, 2014
Ranked 1st in Joongang Ilbo Korean University Rankings (two consecutive years)
December 17, 2014
The Pohang Center for Creative Economy & Innovation opened (5th floor of C5)
In 1998, POSTECH was ranked by Asiaweek as the best science and technology university in Asia.[16] From 2002 to 2006 JoongAng Ilbo ranked POSTECH as the leading university in Korea. In 2010, the Times Higher Education ranked POSTECH 28th in the world.[17] In 2011, the Times Higher Education[18] ranked the university as the 53rd best university in the world, the 6th best in Asia, and the best in South Korea. In 2017–2018, QS World University Rankings ranked POSTECH 71st overall in the world. It remains third best ranked in Korea, after Seoul National University and KAIST, in the QS Asian University Rankings.[19] However, in the Times Higher Education rankings, it scored highly after compilers placed less emphasis on "reputation and heritage" and gave more weight to objective measures including the influence of universities' research, placing 53rd.[20] In 2012 and 2013, the Times Higher Education ranked POSTECH 1st in its "100 Under 50 Young Universities" rankings.[21]The New York Times[22] and the International Herald Tribune[23] cited POSTECH's rapid ascent as a young university to top the world rankings in less than 50 years.
Campus
POSTECH is a 400-acre campus located twenty minutes by car from downtown Pohang, an hour by bus from Busan, and approximately two and half hours by train (KTX) from Seoul.
Traditional Korean performance at Tae-Joon Park Library
Tae-Joon Park Digital Library
Completed in 2003, the Tae-Joon Park Library is 24,420 square meters with 352,977 volumes and 8,324 digital and paper journals. As of 2005, the library collection consists of approximately 320,000 books, 3,500 journals, 7,000 e-journals 25 databases, and 4,400 multimedia materials. The Library shares materials with industrial-educational-research cooperation and is part of an intercollegiate data exchange program with approximately 150 other research and educational institutions throughout the nation.[24]
Smart campus
In 2010, for the first time among Korean universities, POSTECH implemented a Desktop Cloud Service. However, many of the previously implemented technological services (e.g. campus smartphone applications, university website, university online portal, etc.) are defective as they have not been since updated.[25]
Academics
Admissions
POSTECH admits approximately 300 undergraduate students each year. POSTECH received 1,987 applicants for freshman admission and admitted 323 for the 2014 school year. POSTECH provides the highest educational investment and the most per-student scholarship support in Korea, allowing students from all economic backgrounds the opportunity to obtain a POSTECH education.[26]
Research
The 4th generation light source (PAL-XFEL), which has been operational since 2015, is 10 billion times brighter than the 3rd generation light source.[27]
References
^ abcd"About POSTECH". POSTECH Official website. POSTECH. Retrieved 12 December 2018.
