Brief History
| August 1946 |
Received accreditation to found Korea University. The College of Liberal Arts opened the departments of Korean Literature, English Literature, Philosophy, and History. |
| June 1950 | Closed due to the Korean War |
| September 1951 | Began fall semester at a makeshift school building located in Wondae-dong, Daegu |
| December 1952 | Reorganized the College of Liberal Arts and opened the College of Liberal Arts and Science |
| February 1954 | Divided the College of Liberal Arts and Science into the faculties of Literature and Science |
| April 1955 | Established the Faculty of Politics and Economics to include the departments of Politics and Economics |
| May 1957 |
Founded the Committee for the Translation of Korean Classics (currently the Research Institute of Korean Studies) |
| June 1957 | Established the Asiatic Research Institute |
| April 1959 |
Opened the Department of Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Literature Elevated the status of the Faculty of Politics and Economics to the College of Politics and Economics |
| May 1962 | Completed the expansion project of Seokwan December 1962 Divided the Department of Educational Psychology into the departments of Education and Psychology Opened the departments of Sociology, German Literature, and French Literature |
| December 1963 | Divided the College of Liberal Arts and Science into the College of Liberal Arts and College of Science |
| February 1968 | Established the Institute of American Cultural Studies |
| July 1968 | Established the Behavioral Science Research Center |
| December 1968 | The departments of Korean Literature, English Literature, Philosophy, and History were renamed as the departments of Korean Language and Literature, English Language and Literature, German Language and Literature, and French Language and Literature |
| December 1971 | Established the Department of Chinese Language and Literature. Merged with Woosuk University |
| December 1972 | Included the Department of Education in the College of Education |
| April 1973 | Established the German Studies Institute |
| December 1973 | Established the Department of Russian Language and Literature |
| May 1976 | Renamed the Institute of American Cultural Studies the Institute of British and American Studies |
| December 1979 | Established the Institute of Russian Culture |
| September 1981 | Established the Student Affairs Research Center |
| October 1982 | Established the departments of Japanese Language and Literature and Spanish Language |
| November 1986 | Established the Department of Classical Chinese |
| October 1988 |
Divided the Department of History into the departments of Korean History, Eastern History, and Western History Renamed the Department of Spanish Language the Department of Spanish Language and Literature Established the Department of Linguistics |
| January 1990 | Established computer labs |
| October 1993 | Established the Research Institute for Language and Information |
| October 1994 | Established the Media Library |
| August 1996 | Established the Video Lecture Room Established the Institute of Philosophical Studies Established the Institute of Social Research |
| October 1996 | Renamed the Department of Linguistics the Department of Language Science |
| February 1997 | Established the Chinese Studies Institute |
| October 1998 |
Confirmed the implementation of the division system (Division of Korean and Asian Languages and Literature, Division of Western Languages and Literature, and Division of Humanities)
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| August 1999 | Established the Research Institute of Japanese Studies |
| October 1999 | Established the Complex Media Education Room |
| May 2001 | Established the Institute of Language and Culture |
| July 2001 | Combined the divisions (Division of Korean and Asian Languages and Literature, Division of Western Languages and Literature, and Division of Humanities) into the College of Liberal Arts |
| July 2003 |
Changed the basic classification of student recruitment (Changed from college-based to division-based recruitment)
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| October 2003 | Renamed the German Studies Institute the Institute of German-speaking Countries and Culture |
| March 2004 | Combined the departments of Eastern History and Western History into the Department of History Renamed the Department of Language Science the Department of Linguistics |
| July 2004 | Renamed the Research Institute of Japanese Studies the Research Center for Japanese Studies |
| March 2005 | Renamed the Media Library the Digital Media Lab |
| March 2005 |
Established the Institute of Chinese Characters and Korean Literature in Classical Chinese Established the Institute of Rhetoric Renamed the Institute of Russian Culture the Institute of Russian·CIS Studies |
| June 2005 | Established the Institute of History |
| October 2005 | Established the Marital Counseling Center |
| May 2006 | Established the Center for Applied Cultural Science |
| January 2007 | Established the Institute of Hispanic Studies |
| April 2007 | Established the Korean Communication Competence Support Center |
| July 2007 | Established the Wisdom Science Center |
| November 2007 | Renamed the Korean Communication Competence Support Center the Korean Communication Competence Research Center |
| August 2008 | Closed the Institute of Language and Culture Renamed the Research Center for Japanese Studies the Research Center for Japan |
| July 2009 | Established the Center for Korean History |
| February 2011 | Established the Institute of East Asian Studies and the Institute for the Convergence Civilization |
| June 2011 | Established the Institute for Translation and Humanities Studies |
| April 2013 | Established the Institute for Hallyu Convergence |
| July 2013 | Changed the classification of student recruitment (Changed from division-based to department-based recruitment) |
| July 2014 | Renamed the Korean Communication Competence Research Center the International Research Center for Korean Language and Culture |
| April 2015 | Renamed the Marital Counseling Center the KU Mind Health Institute |
| June 2015 | Renamed the Research Center for Japan the Korea University Global Institute for Japanese Studies |
| August 2015 | Reformed the administration system (Department Administration Office) |