Soongsil University

Soongsil University (SSU) is the first modern university in Korea, dating its history back to 1897. It was founded under the Christian missionary William M. Baird. The campus is located in 369 Sangdo-ro, Dongjak-gu, Seoul, South Korea. History Soongsil University was founded on October 10, 1897, in Pyongyang as a private school by William M. Baird, a missionary of the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. Board of Foreign Missions. In 1900 the school was developed into an official 4-year junior high school. In October 1901 the school was named Soongsil Hakdang (, Soongsil Academy). The name Soongsil roughly means "Revering [God] ( soong) with Truth and Integrity ( sil)". In 1905 the academy established courses for students. In 1906 the academy again was permitted by Presbyterian and Methodist missionary bodies to establish a university department. The academy was called Union Christian College (합성숭실대학), which was later authorized as a university by the Korean government in 1907. In 1925 the school was forcibly reduced to a 4-year technical school of humanities named (崇實專門學校, pronounced Sūjitsu Senmon Gakkō in Japanese). On March 4, 1938 the school closed itself in order to protest against the enforcement of Shinto shrine worship.