Pohang University of Science and Technology

Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) was founded in 1986 by POSCO, one of the world’s leading steel companies. It was established to train specialist engineers who could lay the groundwork for future technological development. The founding chairman of the university, Park Tae-joon, used the California Institute of Technology as a model for POSTECH. There are 11 undergraduate departments at the university, four specialising in science and seven specialising in engineering. The university also has a graduate programme, which consists of the same 11 departments, as well as five divisions, two inter-disciplinary programmes, two professional graduate schools and one special graduate school. The university’s student to faculty ratio is 5:1, which enables faculty to focus on individual students and provide high quality teaching. With a 400-acre campus, POSTECH is fully equipped with the latest facilities. It is home to the Pohang Accelerator Laboratory and over 73 research centres. It is also home to Korea’s only synchrotron radiation facility. These state-of-the-art facilities enable the university to carry out groundbreaking research. Recently the Korean government established four centres of the Institute for Basic Science at the university, to promote world-class research. The university is located in Pohang, a city in the province of North Gyeongsang, South Korea. Pohang is an important seaport in the Daegu-Gyeongbuk area. It is also one of South Korea’s main industrial cities as it is home to POSCO and other major companies. People from all over Korea travel to Pohang to visit Jukdo Market, one of the country’s most popular fresh fish markets.