Despite lower national birth rates and sagging enrollment in most public universities, the church’s Sahmyook University in suburban Seoul, Korea continues to thrive, maintaining its role as the largest educational center in the Adventist World.

The enrollment for the 2005-2006 school years was 5,427. There was a 700 gain in the undergraduate school of the university. There was a jump of 23 in the graduate School of Theology, a good sign for the church’s five local conferences which comprise the Korea Union Conference. Their one union mission, North Korea, is currently inactive.

In a recent visit to the school campus, I heard the current president, Dr. Suh, Kwang Soo, predict that the school will maintain its role as an educational leader in the community and the church. “We will continue to give emphasis to the important role of witnessing for Jesus Christ to every student.”  There were a total of 794 baptisms for the last school year, a total of 5,035 for a six year period.

President Suh reports that the school is completing major building programs on the campus. This will include a complex administration hall as a centennial memorial building and music hall. Limited space prevents them from expanding much further.

I was interested in finding out about the school dairy that I helped bring into existence during the early part of my service in the Far Eastern Division in the late 60’s.  With the vision of the school’s agriculture director, George Haley, a small dairy herd was imported from the United States and soon became a vibrant source of funding for the school’s expansion program.

I learned that during the restructuring of the university campus, it became necessary for administration to re-locate the dairy a distance from the campus. Providing income for the Korean Union Conference's secondary school education is a string of soy-milk factories which provides funding for expansion of the union's seven senior academies.

The college opened at its present site in late 1949 after a 200-acre tract of land was purchased near the Royal Tombs in the suburbs of Seoul. Ralph S. Watts Sr. was among the group of church leaders who found the property and arranged for the purchase.

The Korean war in the ealry 1950's prevented the school from operating and the few buildings on campus were damaged. It was re-opened in 1951.

In 1954 the school recieved a government permit to operate as a college. In 1993 the gevernment approved university status to the school as it added a graduate school and expanded the courses offered at the institution.

President Suh says that there has been a steady growth through the years and now ranks number one in campus student enrollment of any Adventist school in the world

Sahmyook University merged with Sahmyook College last year. The university has newly incorporated departments, formely of the college, and presents a fresh new outlook.

This year is the 100th anniversary of Sahmyook University. Sahmyook University will prepare for the oncoming century and the declaration of the second foundation with the merger and centennial as its starting point.

- Don A. Roth