Hongik University, widely known as the best architecture and art institution rivalry with Seoul National University (SNU) in South Korea, is a university in the Mapo-gu district of central Seoul, South Korea with a second campus in Sejong. Hongik University offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs. As of 2007, 14,500 undergraduate students and 2,600 graduate students were enrolled at the university. The university serves as a metonym for the Hongdae area, which was named one of the coolest neighborhoods in the world in 2016.Hongik University opened its doors as a college in Seoul in 1946. By 1950, the school had expanded steadily so as to accommodate various departments in law, liberal arts, political science, and natural science. It was, however, forced to move to a temporary school housing in Pusan, a southern port city, at the advent of the Korean War. All programs were drastically cut back.The next chapter of Hongik history began after the school returned to Seoul in 1953. Ever since, Hongik University grew in size and reputation, expanding academic programs such as the Departments of Business and Economics, Education, Engineering, Fine Arts, Handicrafts, as well as a Graduate School. The foundation also established Hongik Junior Technical College, Hongik Junior and Senior High Schools, Hongik Girls'​ Junior and Senior High Schools, and Hongik Elementary School. In 1971 Hongik College attained a new status, merging with Soo-Do Engineering College to form Hongik University, with twenty departments in the College of Business and Economics, Engineering, and Fine Arts. It was also in 1971 that the Graduate School of Industrial Arts came into being. Evening classes and the College of Education were added in 1972 and 1973, respectively. In 1981-82, the Ministry of Education authorized the establishment of the College of Liberal Arts, the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, and the Graduate School of Education.