Sookmyung Women's University

Sookmyung Women's University (Korean: 숙명여자대학교) is a private women's university in Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea, and the oldest institution of higher learning for women founded under royal patronage in the country.淑明女子大学（韩文：숙명여자대학교）是韩国首尔特别市龙山区的一所私立女子大学，也是该国历史最悠久的由王室资助创办的女子高等学府。

Founded in 1906 as Myeongsin Girls' School by Imperial Consort Sunheon, it was reorganised as Sookmyung Women's College in 1948 and raised to full university status in 1955.该校由纯献皇贵妃于 1906 年以明新女学校的名义创办，1948 年改制为淑明女子学院，1955 年正式升格为大学。

The university sits in the 1201-1400 band of the QS World University Rankings 2027 and in 2,076th place in the 2026-2027 U.S. News global table, while it does not appear in the 2027 Times Higher Education ranking or the 2026 ShanghaiRanking main list.该校在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中位列 1201-1400 区间，在 2026-2027 年度《美国新闻与世界报道》全球大学榜单中排名第 2076 位，但未进入 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名与 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名主榜。

History

• Imperial Consort Sunheon, a consort of Emperor Gojong and the mother of Prince Yeong, founded Myeongsin Girls' School in 1906 as the first private school for women established under royal patronage in Korea, at a time when formal schooling for Korean girls was still rare.明新女学校由朝鲜高宗皇帝的贵妃纯献皇贵妃于 1906 年创办，她是英亲王的生母，这也是韩国第一所由王室资助设立的私立女子学校，当时朝鲜女性接受正规学校教育的机会仍然十分稀少。
• The school opened in central Seoul with a first cohort of a few dozen girls and a curriculum that joined Korean and classical Chinese letters, arithmetic, Japanese and the domestic arts expected of educated women of the day.学校在汉城中心开学，首批只有数十名女生，课程把韩文与汉文、算术、日语以及当时对受教育女性的家政技艺要求结合在一起。
• In 1909 the institution was renamed Sookmyung Girls' School, taking the characters 淑 for elegance and virtue and 明 for brightness, and that name has stayed with it for more than a century.1909 年，学校更名为淑明女学校，校名取自「淑」的端正贤淑与「明」的明亮聪慧，此后一百余年一直沿用。
• The Japanese annexation of 1910 and the Chosen Education Ordinance of 1911 narrowed the curriculum open to Korean girls, pushing domestic science and the Japanese language to the centre of the timetable.1910 年日本吞并朝鲜，1911 年颁布的《朝鲜教育令》又压缩了朝鲜女性可以修习的科目，把家政与日语推到课表中心。
• The 1919 March First Movement, which brought students across Seoul into the streets, framed the political education of the school's earliest generations of teachers and graduates.1919 年的三一独立运动把汉城各校学生带上街头，也塑造了该校最早几代教师与毕业生的政治启蒙。
• Liberation in 1945 allowed the school to rebuild a teaching staff depleted by the war and to reopen the higher courses that colonial policy had kept closed to Korean women.1945 年光复后，学校得以重建被战争消耗的师资，并重新开设殖民政策长期对朝鲜女性关闭的高等课程。
• In 1948 the institution was re-established as Sookmyung Women's College, the step that converted a girls' school into a degree-granting college for women.1948 年，学校改制为淑明女子学院（Sookmyung Women's College），从女子学校转变为可以授予学位的女子高等院校。
• The Korean War of 1950-1953 forced the college into emergency teaching, and classes resumed in earnest only after the front line stabilised around Seoul in 1951.1950 至 1953 年的朝鲜战争使学院转入应急教学，直到 1951 年战线在汉城一带稳定下来，课程才真正恢复。
• Sookmyung became a full university in 1955, adding faculties and graduate programmes and adopting the Korean name 숙명여자대학교, which it still uses.1955 年，淑明升格为完整大学，增设学院与研究生课程，并采用至今沿用的韩文校名「숙명여자대학교」。
• By 1970 the university had built out colleges of education, music, pharmacy and home economics, the professional fields through which Korean women's universities served the industrialising economy.到 1970 年，学校已建成教育、音乐、药学与家政等学院，这些正是韩国女子大学服务于工业化经济的专业领域。
• The Research Institute of Asian Women, based at Sookmyung, began publishing the English-language journal Asian Women in 1991, giving the university a regional platform in gender studies.设于淑明的亚洲妇女研究所于 1991 年开始出版英文期刊《Asian Women》，使学校在性别研究领域拥有区域性的学术平台。
• In 1995 the university declared a second founding and adopted a general development plan running to its centenary in 2006, with targets for internationalisation, facilities and a leadership curriculum.1995 年，学校宣布「第二次建校」，并制定面向 2006 年百年校庆的总体发展计划，提出国际化、校园设施与领导力课程等目标。
• Sookmyung became the first Korean university to obtain ISO 14001 certification in 2000, an environmental management standard applied to campus energy, waste and procurement.2000 年，淑明成为韩国第一所获得 ISO 14001 认证的大学，该环境管理体系覆盖校园能耗、废弃物与采购流程。
• The Renaissance Plaza and the Second Foundation Campus were completed in 2003, giving the university a new cultural centre and the physical base for its leadership programme.2003 年，文艺复兴广场与第二建校校区落成，为学校提供了新的文化中心，也为领导力项目提供了实体空间。
• In May 2004 the Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum opened, and in 2005 the education ministry again selected Sookmyung for its university specialisation support programme.2004 年 5 月，郑英阳刺绣博物馆开馆；2005 年，学校再次入选教育人力资源部的大学特色化支援计划。
• The Ministry of Science and Technology designated the Sookmyung Women's Disease Research Center as a Superior Research Center in 2005, a national stamp on its biomedical work.2005 年，科学技术部将淑明女性疾病研究中心指定为优秀研究中心（SRC），这是国家层面对其生物医学研究的认可。
• The centenary in 2006 brought the Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality MBA and a round of anniversary building, marking the school's transformation from a royal girls' school into a comprehensive women's university.2006 年百年校庆之际，学校推出蓝带酒店管理 MBA，并完成一批纪念性建设，标志着它从王室女校转型为综合性女子大学。
• The S Leadership Program was launched in 2007 as a certificate track that combines seminars, mentoring and international experience for undergraduate women.2007 年，学校推出「S 领导力项目」，以研讨课、导师制与国际经历相结合的方式，为本科女生提供证书课程。
• A 2012 audit scandal over the foundation's handling of 68.5 billion won in donations received between 1995 and 2009 led to reforms of the board and a court case over inflated tuition.2012 年曝出的基金会丑闻涉及 1995 至 2009 年间 685 亿韩元捐款的处理方式，最终促成理事会改革，并引发关于学费虚高的诉讼。
• In 2020 Sookmyung became the first Korean women's university to admit a transgender student, although the offer was withdrawn by the student after public controversy.2020 年，淑明成为韩国第一所录取跨性别学生的女子大学，但在舆论争议之后，该学生本人撤回了入学申请。
• From a single royal classroom in 1906 to a research university with doctoral programmes, Sookmyung has kept its founding mandate of educating women while widening it to scholarship and public service.从 1906 年的一间王室教室发展到拥有博士项目的研究型大学，淑明始终守着创办时教育女性的使命，并将其扩展到学术研究与社会服务。

Academics

• Sookmyung is organised into undergraduate colleges covering the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, engineering, pharmacy, education, music, fine arts, human ecology and business administration, together with a general graduate school and several professional graduate schools.淑明设有涵盖人文、社会科学、自然科学、工程、药学、教育、音乐、美术、生活科学与工商管理等领域的本科学院，并设有一般研究生院与若干专门研究生院。
• The Sookmyung Academy that governs the university also runs Sookmyung Girls' High School and Sookmyung Girls' Middle School, so the foundation's teaching tradition runs from secondary education into doctoral research.管理大学的淑明学园同时办有淑明女子高中与淑明女子初中，学园的教学传统因此从中等教育一直延伸到博士研究。
• The College of Liberal Arts teaches Korean language and literature, English language and literature, history, philosophy and library and information science, and it carries most of the university's compulsory general-education writing courses.人文学院开设韩国语言文学、英语语言文学、历史学、哲学与图书馆情报学等专业，并承担学校大部分的必修通识写作课程。
• The College of Social Sciences groups political science and diplomacy, economics, psychology, sociology, public administration and media communication, fields in which women's universities built strong civil-service preparation.社会科学学院汇集政治外交、经济、心理、社会、公共行政与媒体传播等专业，这些领域正是女子大学长期积累公务员考试优势的方向。
• The College of Natural Sciences offers mathematics, statistics, physics, chemistry, life sciences and food and nutrition, with laboratory teaching concentrated in the science building on the main campus.自然科学学院开设数学、统计、物理、化学、生命科学与食品营养等专业，实验教学主要集中于主校区的理科大楼。
• The College of Engineering awards degrees in computer science, software, chemical engineering and electronics, and its laboratories work with Seoul technology firms on data, materials and systems projects that give undergraduates industry placements.工学院授予计算机科学、软件、化学工程与电子工程等学位，其实验室与首尔的科技企业合作开展数据、材料与系统项目，并为本科生提供企业实习岗位。
• The College of Pharmacy runs the six-year pharmacy programme introduced under the national reform of 2009, when the four-year bachelor's track was replaced, together with research in medicinal chemistry and clinical pharmacy.药学院开设 2009 年全国药学教育改革后实施的六年制药学项目，四年制学士轨道即于此时被取代，学院同时开展药物化学与临床药学研究。
• The College of Education prepares teachers for secondary schools and early-childhood settings, combining subject-matter majors with practicum placements in Seoul partner schools.教育学院培养中学与幼儿教育师资，把学科专业课程与首尔合作学校的教学实习结合起来。
• The College of Music teaches vocal and instrumental performance, composition and Korean traditional music, and it supports the Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra, an ensemble that tours abroad.音乐学院教授声乐、器乐演奏、作曲与韩国传统音乐，并支持淑明伽倻琴管弦乐团，该乐团经常赴海外巡演。
• The College of Fine Arts covers painting, sculpture, crafts and visual design, and its studios and exhibition spaces sit close to the embroidery museum and the Renaissance Plaza.美术学院涵盖绘画、雕塑、工艺与视觉设计，其工作室与展览空间紧邻刺绣博物馆和文艺复兴广场。
• The College of Human Ecology teaches clothing and textiles, food and nutrition, housing and interior design and child development, a lineage that reaches back to the domestic-science curriculum of the colonial girls' school.生活科学学院教授服装与纺织、食品营养、居住与室内设计以及儿童发展，其源流可追溯至殖民时期女校的家政课程。
• The College of Business Administration offers majors in business administration, accounting and international business, and it runs the Le Cordon Bleu Hospitality MBA launched at the 2006 centenary, a programme that combines kitchen practice with hotel finance and service management.工商管理学院开设工商管理、会计与国际商务等专业，并运营 2006 年百年校庆时推出的蓝带酒店管理 MBA，该项目把厨房实务与酒店财务、服务管理结合起来。
• All first-year students enter the Division of General Education for Leadership before choosing a major, a structure that ties the first-year curriculum to the university's leadership certificate.所有一年级学生先进入领导力通识教育学部，之后才选择专业，这一结构把一年级课程与学校的领导力证书衔接起来。
• The Department of Global Cooperation, taught entirely in English, offers global cooperation and entrepreneurship majors and recruits a substantial share of its students from outside Korea.全球合作学系全英文授课，开设全球合作与创业两个专业，其学生中有相当比例来自韩国以外。
• Sookmyung pioneered the Korean dual-degree model, under which students spend four semesters at each of two institutions and graduate with degrees from both.淑明在韩国率先推行双学位模式，学生分别在两所院校各修读四个学期，毕业时可获得两校学位。
• Graduate study is organised through the Sookmyung Graduate School and professional schools in education, business and public policy, awarding master's and doctoral degrees across the colleges and running the university's doctoral seminars.研究生教育由淑明研究生院以及教育、商业与公共政策等专门研究生院承担，各学院均可授予硕士与博士学位，并共同组织全校博士生研讨课。
• Research support is concentrated in the women's disease centre, the Asian Women institute and the embroidery museum, and the university also partners with the Small and Medium Business Administration on management education.科研支持集中于女性疾病研究中心、亚洲妇女研究所与刺绣博物馆，学校还与中小企业厅合作开展管理教育。

Campus

• The main campus occupies a compact site in Cheongpa-dong, Yongsan-gu, at roughly 37.566 degrees north and 126.9784 degrees east, on the northern edge of the Yongsan district.主校区位于龙山区青坡洞，地处北纬约 37.566 度、东经 126.9784 度，坐落在龙山区的北缘。
• The university is split between the Main Campus and the Second Foundation Campus, the latter built after the 1995 second-founding declaration as a cultural and leadership hub.校园分为主校区与第二建校校区，后者在 1995 年「第二次建校」宣言之后建成，定位为文化与领导力中心。
• Renaissance Plaza, completed in 2003, has become the landmark of the university, a stepped open space used for concerts, fairs and graduation photographs.2003 年落成的文艺复兴广场已成为学校的标志，这处阶梯式开放空间常用于音乐会、集市与毕业留影。
• The Chung Young Yang Embroidery Museum building houses galleries, a library, conservation studios, classrooms and a 300-seat auditorium wired for simultaneous interpretation, and its permanent collection ranges from votive textiles and ecclesiastical robes to wedding garments, rank insignia and folding screens.郑英阳刺绣博物馆大楼内设展厅、图书馆、修复工作室、教室以及配备同声传译设备的 300 座礼堂，其常设藏品从祈福织物、教会法衣一直延伸到婚服、品阶徽记与屏风。
• Sookmyung Women's University Station on Line 4 and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line puts the campus two stops from Seoul Station, with Line 4 running on to Myeongdong and Chungmuro and the other line reaching Yongsan and Wangsimni.地铁 4 号线与京义中央线交汇的淑明女子大学站使校园距离首尔站仅两站，4 号线继续通往明洞与忠武路，京义中央线则连接龙山与往十里。
• The setting is thoroughly urban, with Namsan to the north, the Yongsan business district to the south and the cafés of Cheongpa-dong along the campus edge, while the National Museum of Korea and Yongsan Park lie a short subway ride away.校园环境高度城市化，北面是南山，南面是龙山商务区，沿校园边缘则是青坡洞的咖啡馆街，国立中央博物馆与龙山公园也只需短程地铁即可到达。
• Campus buildings are vertical rather than spread out, and the library, student centre and dormitory are stacked within a few minutes' walk of one another.校园建筑以竖向布局为主而非铺展式，图书馆、学生中心与宿舍彼此相距仅几分钟步行路程。
• ISO 14001 certification, first obtained in 2000, is reflected in building energy controls, waste sorting and the green roof and planting schemes of the newer blocks.学校自 2000 年首次获得 ISO 14001 认证，其要求体现在楼宇能耗控制、垃圾分类以及较新建筑楼的屋顶绿化与植栽设计上。

Reputation

• In the QS World University Rankings 2027 Sookmyung is placed in the 1201-1400 band, the shared bracket used for institutions outside the top 1200.在 2027 年 QS 世界大学排名中，淑明位列 1201-1400 区间，这是 1200 名之外院校共用的并列区间。
• The university did not enter the 2027 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and it is likewise absent from the 2026 ShanghaiRanking main list.该校未进入 2027 年泰晤士高等教育世界大学排名，同样未进入 2026 年软科世界大学学术排名主榜。
• In the 2026-2027 U.S. News global ranking Sookmyung appears at 2,076th, a position driven largely by its publication and citation record rather than by reputation surveys, and because the edition covers more than 2,000 institutions the placement still marks the university as research-active.在 2026-2027 年度《美国新闻与世界报道》全球大学榜单中，淑明排在第 2076 位，这一位置主要由论文与引用记录而非声誉调查决定；该榜单本版覆盖全球两千多所院校，因此这一名次仍表明该校具有活跃的科研产出。
• OpenAlex indexes 8,401 works and 407,125 citations for the university, a research footprint concentrated in pharmacy, chemistry, materials and the biomedical sciences.OpenAlex 为该校收录 8,401 项成果与 407,125 次引用，科研产出集中于药学、化学、材料与生物医学领域。
• JoongAng Daily's 2018 university assessment ranked Sookmyung 20th in Korea and second among the country's women's universities, behind Ewha Womans University.《中央日报》2018 年大学评估将淑明列为韩国第 20 位、女子大学第 2 位，仅次于梨花女子大学。
• Its pharmacy and health-science faculties are among the strongest in the women's-university sector, and their graduates sit the same national licensing examination as those of Seoul National University and Chung-Ang University.该校的药学与健康科学学科在女子大学中位居前列，其毕业生与首尔大学、中央大学的毕业生参加同一场国家执业资格考试。
• Music and fine arts give the university an unusual public profile for a mid-sized institution, with student and faculty recitals open to the public throughout the year.音乐与美术为这所中等规模的学校带来不同寻常的公众能见度，师生音乐会与展览全年向公众开放。
• The Le Cordon Bleu partnership, running since 2006, made Sookmyung one of the first Asian universities to award a culinary hospitality MBA under the French school's name.自 2006 年起的蓝带合作，使淑明成为亚洲较早以这所法国名校名义授予餐饮酒店管理 MBA 的大学之一。
• Admission is selective, and applicants typically weigh Sookmyung against Ewha Womans University, Sogang University and Korea University, all of which recruit from the same pool of Seoul secondary-school graduates.该校招生竞争激烈，考生通常会把淑明与梨花女子大学、西江大学和高丽大学相互比较，这几所学校招收的是同一批首尔高中毕业生。

Student life

• Sookmyung runs dozens of registered student clubs, from academic societies and debate teams to orchestras, dance crews and volunteer groups, most of which recruit during the March orientation weeks.淑明拥有数十个注册学生社团，涵盖学术学会、辩论队、管弦乐团、舞蹈社与志愿团体，多数社团在三月的新生迎新周招新。
• The student council and the college-level councils bargain with the administration over tuition, dormitory fees and academic rules, and they publish an annual report on student welfare.学生总会与各学院学生会就学费、宿舍费用与学籍规定与校方协商，并每年发布学生福利报告。
• The spring campus festival fills Renaissance Plaza with performances, food stalls and departmental exhibitions, and it remains the main social event of the undergraduate year.春季校园庆典让文艺复兴广场布满演出、小吃摊与院系展览，至今仍是本科一年中最重要的社交活动。
• The S Leadership Program adds seminars, mentoring and overseas study to the standard curriculum, and students complete it alongside their major requirements.「S 领导力项目」在常规课程之外增加研讨课、导师制与海外研修，学生需在完成专业要求的同时修完该项目。
• Volunteer service is organised through departmental societies and the university's social contribution centre, with tutoring and care work in Yongsan and nearby districts.志愿服务由各系学会与学校社会贡献中心组织，内容涵盖在龙山区及邻近地区的课业辅导与照护工作。
• Because most students commute by subway, campus life clusters around the station exit, the library and the cafés of Cheongpa-dong rather than around a residential quadrangle.由于多数学生乘地铁通勤，校园生活更多围绕地铁站出口、图书馆与青坡洞的咖啡馆展开，而不是围绕住宿区的中庭。
• International students are paired with Korean buddies and take Korean-language courses at the language centre, and the university holds a global fair each autumn.国际学生与韩国学生结成语言伙伴，并在语言教育院修读韩语课程，学校每年秋季还举办国际文化节。
• The Sookmyung Gayageum Orchestra and the wind and chamber ensembles give regular campus concerts, while inter-college sports competitions fill the spring and autumn calendars.淑明伽倻琴管弦乐团与管乐、室内乐团定期在校园演出，院际体育比赛则占满春秋两季的活动日程。

Notable people

• Han Seong-sook, a Sookmyung graduate, became chief executive officer of the internet company Naver, one of the most senior corporate posts held by a Korean woman.淑明校友韩成淑（Han Seong-sook）出任互联网企业 Naver 的首席执行官，是韩国女性担任过的最高层企业职位之一。
• Moon Hee-kyung built a long television and film career as a character actress after graduating from the university's theatre programme.文熙景（Moon Hee-kyung）毕业于该校戏剧专业，此后在电视与电影领域长期担任性格演员。
• Kim Hye-kyung, a pianist trained at Sookmyung, has performed and taught widely and is among the university's best-known alumnae in music.金惠景（Kim Hye-kyung）在淑明接受钢琴训练，其后广泛演出与教学，是该校最知名的音乐界校友之一。
• Bae Hyun-jin, a former television anchor, won a National Assembly seat for the People Power Party and is one of the university's prominent graduates in politics.裴贤镇（Bae Hyun-jin）曾任电视主播，后代表国民力量党当选国会议员，是该校在政界的知名校友。
• Imperial Consort Sunheon, the founder, is commemorated on campus as the royal patron whose donation and court connections made a women's school possible in 1906.创办人纯献皇贵妃在校园中被纪念为王室赞助人，正是她的捐助与宫廷人脉使一所女子学校在 1906 年成为可能。
• The school's first generations of graduates, trained between the 1910s and the 1940s, supplied teachers to girls' schools across the Korean peninsula and later in the diaspora.该校在 1910 至 1940 年代培养的最初几代毕业生，为朝鲜半岛各地乃至海外侨界的女子学校输送了教师。
• Alumnae in pharmacy and nursing staff the hospitals of Seoul, and the university counts a large network of women pharmacists among its graduates.药学与护理界的校友遍布首尔各家医院，该校在女性药剂师群体中拥有庞大的校友网络。
• Graduates of the College of Music appear in Korean orchestras, opera companies and university faculties, and several have won national performance competitions.音乐学院的毕业生进入韩国各乐团、歌剧团与大学教职，其中多人曾在全国性演奏比赛中获奖。
• The business school's alumnae include executives in retail, cosmetics and finance, sectors where women's universities built durable recruiting ties.商学院的校友中有零售、化妆品与金融业的高管，这些行业与女子大学建立了长期稳定的招聘联系。
• Journalists, broadcasters and lawyers trained at Sookmyung form a visible professional network, and the alumnae association maintains chapters in Seoul and overseas.在该校接受训练的记者、播音员与律师形成了引人注目的职业网络，校友会还在首尔与海外设有分会。