Inha University

Inha University is a private research university in Incheon, South Korea’s third most populous city, 27km south west of the capital Seoul.

The university was founded in 1954 as Inha Institute of Technology, the name Inha is formed of the first two letters of Incheon (“In”) and Hawaii (“Ha”), which it was established to mark 50 years of Korean emigration to the US state. Plans laid in 1952 in the spirit of American-Korean cooperation by a group of Koreans who had emigrated to Hawaii saw the institution opened two years later, aimed at kickstarting South Korea’s industrial sector, which had struggled during the Korean War.

It was granted university status in 1972, the year it also became known by its current name, and has maintained its strong reputation for technological research.

Inha University is deeply committed to internationalisation. Among other things, it opened Inha University of Tashkent in Uzbekistan, the first overseas South Korean university, in 2014, and is part of the Global U8 Consortium, alongside the University of Hull, the University of Haifa, the Université du Havre and a group of other institutions situated in seaport cities. The Consortium was launched on Inha’s 50th anniversary to promote collaboration and joint research programmes, and has also facilitated student exchanges, guest lectures and conferences.

As well as high graduate employment rates, Inha students enjoy Incheon’s famous cuisine and fish markets, and close proximity to the sea. Seoul and Incheon International Airport, the biggest in South Korea, is an hour away. Inha University Hospital is widely considered one of the country’s best.