The institution in its current university form was established in January 1957 through the union of Yonhi College (연희전문학교; 延禧專門學校) and Severance.

[citation needed] Yonsei operates its main campus in Seoul and offers graduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs in Korean and English.

Graduates of Yonsei include a Nobel laureate,[4] an Academy Award winner,[5] Olympians, and a Fulkerson Prize-winning mathematician.

[6] The Yonsei University Medical School dates to April 10, 1885, when the first modern hospital to practice Western medicine in Korea, Gwanghyewon, was established.

[7] The hospital was founded by Horace Newton Allen, the American Protestant missionary appointed to Korea by the Presbyterian Church in the USA.

However, by 1894 when the First Sino-Japanese War and Gabo reforms took place, the government was not able to continue its financial support, thus management of Chejungwon came fully under the church.

In 1899, Avison returned to the US and attended a conference of missionaries in New York City where he elaborated on the medical project in Korea.

Chejungwon began to receive medical staff, school faculty, and financial support from the Union Council of Korean Missionaries (한국연합선교협의회; 韓國聯合宣敎協議會) in 1912.

[11] The rest of Yonsei University traces its origins to Chosun Christian College, which was founded on March 5, 1915, by an American Protestant missionary, Horace Grant Underwood sent by the church.

Severance Union College struggled to meet these requirements; school regulations and coursework were altered, faculty evaluated and enlarged, its foundation and its board clarified.

It called for stricter qualifications for the faculty, and Severance complied and further recruited more members with degrees from accredited institutions in North America and Europe.

Japan did not completely ignore the competence of this institution; in 1923, Severance recovered its right to give medical licenses to its graduates without state examination, a right that had been lost since 1912.

After the March First Independence Movement swept the peninsula in 1919, Japan somewhat relaxed its grip on Korea, and this is reflected in the Ordinance of 1922.

It ceased the arbitrary control of governor-general over the coursework and the qualification of faculty members, and altered its stance on strict separation of religion from all education.

It also recognized Yonhi as a professional school equal to its counterparts in Japan, and permitted the Christian programs and the Bible in its coursework.

However, Yonhi installed a training center for agricultural leaders on campus and its programs saw large numbers of participants.

Its policy was to admit non-Christians relatively freely and allow the majority of Christian students to gradually influence and assimilate them.

Severance fled quickly, but some faculty members and students were unable to leave in time; some were killed and others were captured then exploited by the advancing North Koreans.

In general, exhibiting 0.5% of academic achievement (Korean SAT) is needed to apply for Yonsei regular admission (정시).

Inside Korea, admission to a SKY university is widely considered as a determination of one's career and social status.

Yonsei International Summer School (YISS), usually held from late June to early August, started in 1985, and it has grown to over 2,000 students from over 30 countries.

In addition, the "ㅇ" stands for Heaven; the "-" represents the horizon of the Earth and "ㅅ" signifies "man," as expressed in the Chinese character (人).

The open book stands for truth; the torchlight signifies freedom; and the arms, as a whole, protects these two core principles of the university.

A school's founding ideology and a student's freedom of religion has been debated in South Korean society for some time.

It is strictly forbidden by the university code of conduct to discriminate against students from non-Christian backgrounds, yet as a missionary school, Yonsei undergraduates are required to attend weekly chapel service for four semesters to qualify for graduation.

In 2012, out of the five sports, Yonsei University lost three (baseball, basketball, soccer) and won two (ice hockey, rugby).

Most freshmen of Yonsei University are required to live in an International Campus dormitory and complete RC programs for a year.

The Sinchon Campus is home to most of the academic departments of Yonsei University, and has a combination of historical and high-tech buildings.

Currently, most freshmen of Yonsei University stay at the International Campus for one year to complete their RC program requirements.

Until 2013, there were eight houses: Avison, Yun Dong-Joo, Muak, Yoongjae, Underwood, Baek Yang, Appenzeller (previously Aristotle), and Allen.