Chung-Ang University (CAU; ) is a private research university in Seoul, South Korea. The university operates two campuses: main campus located in Dongjak District, Seoul, and an additional campus in Anseong, Gyeonggi Province. CAU consists of 16 undergraduate colleges and 16 graduate schools.
Starting as a church-run kindergarten in 1916, CAU transformed into a school for female kindergarten teachers in 1922 and was granted university status in 1953. The university held its centennial in 2018. It has 33,600 undergraduates, 5,200 graduates, 700 professors and 500 more part-time teaching staff. The symbol of Chung-Ang University is Blue Dragon. It represents the sacredness, authority, freedom, and the eternal prosperity of CAU.
History
Establishment 1916–1932
Chung-Ang University began with the establishment of Chung-Ang Kindergarten as an annex to the Chung-Ang Methodist Church located in Insa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, in April 1918.
Chung-Ang Kindergarten originated as a branch of Jungdong Church in 1916 and separated in 1918.
In 1922, the Japanese enacted legislation against kindergartens to restrict expansion, however, other kindergartens including Susong, Kyungsung and Taewha, and kindergartens in Gaesung and Pyongyang were founded by 1924.
Adversity 1933–1945
The social conventions in the 1920s made it difficult to recruit female students but a Teacher Training Program was established and kindergarten teachers were educated, which can be seen as a development in the modern history of teaching in Korea. Undeterred by the hostile conditions, graduates were posted to kindergartens in cities including Hamhung, Hweryung, Busan, Masan, Jeonju, Anak, Cheonan, Sariwon, and Miryang. Thus, the Chung-Ang Kindergarten Teacher Training Program took on the role of a Professional Educational Institution.
By 1922, the Chung-Ang Teacher Training Program, in partnership with the Community Education Movement of various Japanese-Resistance organizations, was promoted to a Kindergarten Teacher Training School. Although its legal status was registered as a miscellaneous school, its standing in social perception was considered equivalent to that of a professional school with a 3-year degree course.
The reformed Chung-Ang Teacher Training School continued to face obstacles in management. With ten students, the school was forced to relocate to a private residence in 1932 due to financial and personal circumstances of the management.
In 1933, Louise Yim (Im Young-Shin) took over the helm and was appointed as the principal at the age of 34. She was a graduate of Kijeon School for Women and was previously imprisoned for 6 months for leading the Samil Independence Movement at Jeonju. She later graduated from Kwangdoo High School in Japan and was further awarded her M.A in the United States. She infamously sent pictures of the Japanese massacring Koreans during the Gwandong earthquake to Dr. Syngman Rhee, who was operating the Korean Independence Movement in the US.
After nine years in U.S., she returned to Korea in January 1932 and was determined to devote herself to the nation, which was still under Japanese rule. As she toured the country for her first role as the director of the YWCA, she realized that she needed to start with education to save the people.
Her savings of 30,000 dollars earned from farming, truck driving, and vegetable wholesale operation in U.S. was used to purchase a site at Heukseok-dong on which to build a school and took leadership of Chung-Ang Teacher Training School. Through Yim, Chung-Ang began to envisage its development as the cradle of national education.
Despite its relocation to Heukseok-dong, Chung-Ang Teacher Training School lacked facilities. So Yim rented Pearson Bible School to hold classes. However, there was a limit to Yim's personal finances and with the Japanese prohibiting contributions, the development of the School continued to face financial difficulties.
Believing that the only solution was to raise funds from U.S., Dr. Yim worked to promote donations in the U.S. As a result, she was able to return home having established the Pfeiffer Foundation in U.S. to financially support Chung-Ang Teacher Training School.
With this, the first stone building was erected on the grounds of Heukseok-dong in April 1937, to become Young-Shin Hall upon its completion in May 1938, which forms the heart of Chung-Ang today.
Students subsequently founded Chosun Kindergarten Education Society and took charge of the social education plan through concerts, plays and literary activities.