Dongguk University

Dongguk University (Korean: 동국대학교; RR: Dongguk Daehakgyo) is a private university in Jung District, Seoul, South Korea. A top-tier university acknowledged locally in Korea. It is one of the few Buddhist-affiliated universities in the world, and is a member of the International Association of Buddhist Universities. Dongguk University is best known for its Department of Film and Imaging Arts. Many of Korea's most famous actors and directors graduated from this school. It is home to the Chungmuro Visual Arts Research Center, the most advanced facility of its kind in South Korea and a historical birthplace of Korean cinema. The university also regularly hosts national film festivals, much like Hollywood in the United States.

Notable alumni of the university include not only Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae, a former Director of the Korean Central Intelligence Agency, a general in the South Korean Army, a professor at the University of Tokyo, and a South Korean diplomat to the United States, but also other prominent figures in South Korea’s political and business sectors. Even former President Lee Myung-bak—who also served as CEO of Hyundai Group—briefly attended the university’s night school program before transferring to Korea University. Among universities ranked outside the QS Top 100, such a distinguished list of alumni is relatively uncommon. The university is particularly recognized for its programs in the arts and national defense, holding a unique position in Asia.

Established in 1906 as Myeongjin School (명진학교; 明進學校) by Buddhist pioneers of the Association of Buddhism Research (불교연구회; 佛敎硏究會), the university gained full university status with its current name in 1953. The university's symbol animal is an elephant, which stemmed from Queen Māyā of Sakya's precognitive dream of a white elephant about the birth of the Buddha, and the symbol flower is a lotus blossom which reflects the Buddhist truth.

Dongguk University Seoul campus is organised into 127 undergraduate and graduate schools, which enrolled 13,701 undergraduate students and 1,801 graduate students and granted 3,140 bachelor's, 470 master's and 172 doctorate degrees in 2017. Its comprehensive academic programme offers 53 undergraduate majors, together with 59 graduate programmes.

The university also operates campuses in Goyang, Gyeongju, and Los Angeles, United States. The university operates two affiliated hospitals and four Traditional Korean medicine hospitals.