Pukyong National University


Pukyong National University is a university in Busan, South Korea, formed in 1996. The university has two campuses, Daeyeon-dong and Yongdang-dong, situated near the coastal district of Nam-gu. PKNU has a traditional focus on fisheries sciences and other maritime fields, and has extensive facilities for Marine and Technology studies.

History

PKNU was formed in 1996 from the merger of two national universities with long histories, the National Fisheries University of Busan, established in 1941, and the Busan National University of Technology, which was established in 1924.
Historically, Daeyeon-dong was a small fishing village populated by anchovy fishermen. In the early years of the 20th century these fishermen found their products in high demand and they became quite wealthy. They used the money to purchase what is now the Daeyeon-dong campus site and donated it to the government, under the condition that it be used to establish a training centre for their industry. During the Korean War, the Daeyeon campus was used as an airfield by the U.S. Air Force. Local residents constructed a large Dol-Jip "stone house" for the commanding officers and pilots. Today this building is used as a student cafeteria.
At present, there are around 26,000 students and 544 professors across the two campuses, which together cover 673,899 m2. There are three large libraries, two in Daeyeon Dong and one in Yong Dong. The campuses are about 4 km apart. A free shuttle bus connects them in about 10–15 minutes.
Although primarily a fisheries university, PKNU has six colleges including a large humanities and social sciences department, four graduate programs with masters courses in 60 departments in 15 interdisciplinary programs, and doctoral courses in 56 departments and 12 interdisciplinary programs. In addition there are eight research institutes.

Colleges

PKNU museum is located on the first and second floors of the Cheongun Building. It has the largest collection of materials in the field of fisheries and marine studies among the universities in South Korea. There are 2,278 exhibits including 1,262 cultural properties, 374 marine organisms, 287 items of fishing equipment and fishing boats, 55 vessels, 283 historical materials related to PKNU, and 17 folk materials. Also, there are many exhibits of historical value including a chanfron from the Gaya period, thought to be the earliest chanfron, and armor which was excavated from Dugok Historical Site in Gimhae. In addition, there are many stuffed marine organisms, including a coelacanth, one of only two in Korea. There is also a bone of the southern right whale, giant clam, various sharks, fish which inhabit the coastal waters and the ocean, crustaceans, and sea animals.
The lobby of the Cheongun building contains a Pukyongosaurus Millenniumi, a herbivorous dinosaur which lived in the Korean Peninsula about 140 million years ago, and the first dinosaur to have a Korean name. Its fossil was discovered on the small rocky island located on the coast of Galsa-ri, Geumseong-myeon, Hadong-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do, and restored by a team led by PKNU professor Baek In Seong.

Busan Radiological Monitoring Station

The Busan Radiological Monitoring Station is one of 12 supervisory organizations in the country which have been operated by the Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety since 1967 to observe the level of radiation in the atmosphere. It provides the information needed to prepare appropriate countermeasures and prevent atomic accidents in Busan and Gyeongsangnam-do.

Notable people and alumni

The Harukasan Mirror Station has been hosted by Pukyong National University since 2016. The archive hosts Arch, Debian, and Ubuntu Linux builds in addition to other open-source software.