If you are weighing Korean universities as an international applicant, Daegu University (大邱大学) deserves a closer look, especially if you are interested in education, rehabilitation sciences or social welfare. Daegu University is a private university based in Gyeongsan, Gyeongsangbuk-do, with roots the university traces to 1956 and a founding motto of “Love, Light, and Freedom.” This guide walks through what Daegu University offers, what international applicants need to prepare, what it costs, and how the process runs from application to arrival. All facts below come from the Daegu University official English website and the official 2024–2025 English brochure it publishes (accessed August 5, 2026).
Daegu University at a glance
Daegu University describes itself as a comprehensive private university. Its official facts page lists a campus area of 2,685,000 square meters (268.5 ha), 12 colleges (plus 2 divisions) with 91 majors, and 6 graduate schools. Faculty numbers given on the same page are 624 full-time faculty and 365 administrative staff, with roughly 17,000 undergraduate students, 1,570 postgraduate students and about 1,000 international students enrolled. In the university’s own telling, its founding goes back to May 1, 1956, when the Korea Social Work Institute was established in Daegu; the institution also traces an earlier root to the Daegu Blind School founded in 1946. Today Daegu University presents itself as a full-scale university whose historical strengths lie in special education, rehabilitation and welfare-related fields.
Campuses and location
Daegu University has two campuses. The original campus sits in downtown Daegu, while the main campus is in Gyeongsan; according to the official site, most colleges and faculty moved to the Gyeongsan campus in 1981, and the Office of International Affairs is located there. The mailing address given on the official site is 201, Daegudae-ro, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, 38453, Republic of Korea. Practical implications for applicants: virtually all academic life, international student services and orientation activities are concentrated on the Gyeongsan campus, so housing and commuting plans should be built around Gyeongsan rather than downtown Daegu.
Programs and colleges
Undergraduate programs at Daegu University are organized by college, and the official Academics section lists them individually. The College of Public Service offers fire service administration, police administration, military studies and real estate and land administration. The College of Global Business covers business, accounting, economics, finance and trade, hotel and tourism management, tourism and airline management, Japanese language studies, and an international studies division that includes Korean language education and interpretation/translation tracks. The College of Social Sciences houses social welfare, youth counseling and welfare, child and family welfare, lifelong education and senior welfare, media communication (visual contents, advertising and public relations), library and information science, and psychology.
STEM-oriented applicants will find the College of Health and Biology (health and medical information, paramedicine, animal resources, companion animal industry, smart horticulture, food processing) and the College of IT·Engineering, which spans architectural engineering, firefighting and disaster prevention, mechanical and automotive engineering, food and nutrition, landscape architecture, energy system and battery engineering, electronic and electrical engineering, and computer and information engineering with software and cyber security tracks. The College of Design and Arts adds webtoon and animation, visual design, industrial design, fashion design, beauty style, interior architecture design and game design.
Daegu University’s education and rehabilitation heritage shows in two colleges in particular. The College of Education runs teacher-training tracks from Korean, English, history, social studies and geography education through early childhood, special and elementary special education, plus mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and earth science education. The College of Rehabilitation Sciences offers physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech-language pathology, rehabilitation counseling, rehabilitation psychology, medical rehabilitation, rehabilitation and health promotion, and special creation convergence. A separate College of Nursing offers the nursing degree. Two divisions cover culture and arts (webmedia literary creation, culture contents, performing arts) and sports and leisure (physical education, sports leisure, sports health-care), alongside a liberal studies division and the College of Glocal Life for lifelong learners. Six graduate schools sit on top of the undergraduate structure, so a pathway to master’s or doctoral study exists within the same institution.
Entry requirements for international students
The official Admissions page states the baseline eligibility for international applicants to Daegu University: applicants must have graduated from high school (or be candidates for graduation) and must have passed either Daegu University’s own undergraduate entrance examination or TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korean) at level 3 or above. The official English brochure adds two structural conditions: both the applicant and his or her parents must be citizens of a foreign country, and the applicant must have completed the full 12-year elementary-to-high-school education or the equivalent. Korean proficiency is the practical hinge of most applications: the majority of undergraduate programs are taught in Korean, and TOPIK level 3 is the stated floor, with some programs and scholarships requiring higher levels.
The documents Daegu University expects are listed on the official pages: the application for admission, a biography and a financial plan on the prescribed forms, original copies of the highest diploma and transcript, a government-approved family register showing the names and nationalities of the applicant and parents, and a passport copy. Financial proof comes in two parts: a bank balance statement of at least USD 18,000 held for at least three consecutive months (or a guarantee from a supporting organization), and income documentation such as employment and income certificates, business registration certificates, or property tax certificates. Transcripts and diplomas issued outside Korea must be originals with a Korean translation, and documents are generally completed in Korean. The official site notes that the checklist can change by nationality and with Korean immigration policy, so the version current at the time of application governs.
Application process and timeline
Daegu University’s official site lays out the undergraduate admission flow as a sequence: counseling (by email, fax or phone), receipt of application materials, review of applications, final admission decision, then notification and billing. After that come fee payment, issuance of the documents needed for a visa application, the student’s acquisition of the visa, and arrival at Daegu University to begin study. There is no single unified application deadline published on the English pages: Daegu University announces application periods, material cutoffs and result dates per intake, so applicants should work backwards from the target semester using the current announcements on the official admissions pages. Given the document list above and visa lead times, starting several months ahead of a fall intake is the realistic planning horizon.
Tuition and fees
Daegu University does not publish a single flat tuition figure for all undergraduates; instead, tuition is set per program group, labeled A through F. The official 2024–2025 English brochure gives the following per-semester tuition: Group A 3,362,000 KRW, Group B 4,349,000 KRW, Group C 4,673,000 KRW, Group D 4,967,000 KRW, Group E 4,029,000 KRW, and Group F 4,129,000 KRW. One academic year at Daegu University comprises two semesters, and the USD figures in the brochure are approximations calculated at 1,200 KRW/USD. The brochure also notes that an admission fee is charged separately from the application fee and paid once. Which group a given major falls into should be checked against the current edition of the brochure, since these tables are revised.
For students who enter through the Korean Language Education Center (KLEC) first, the official tuition page lists 2024 fees of 1,300,000 KRW per regular session and 600,000 KRW per short-term session, with a non-refundable application fee of 100,000 KRW; one academic year of language study consists of four regular sessions and two short-term sessions. Tuition for the language program includes cultural experience events but not textbooks.
Scholarships
Scholarships are a real factor in the cost picture at Daegu University. The official Admissions page states that admitted international students receive a 40 percent tuition scholarship, and that an Outstanding Academic Achievement Scholarship of between 30 and 80 percent of tuition is awarded based on the previous semester’s grades. A TOPIK scholarship of up to 1,500,000 KRW goes to students who complete TOPIK level 5 or 6. The official brochure adds the DU International Leaders scheme: TOPIK level 6 earns a full four-year scholarship, TOPIK level 4 covers the first and second semesters’ tuition, and TOPIK level 3 covers the first semester’s tuition. Achievement-based awards are described as ranging up to 100 percent of tuition in the brochure, with no award when the GPA falls below 2.0. All of these percentages are applied against the group-based tuition figures above, so the effective cost depends on both the program group and the student’s TOPIK level.
Housing, living costs and visa support
On-campus housing at Daegu University is run through the Biho dormitory, which the official site says accommodates about 3,700 students, plus an International House with roughly 300 places for international students; dormitory fees do not include meals. Reference rates from the official site (August 2026 version): for the spring or fall semester, 16-week twin rooms cost 510,000 KRW, with the male building #2 twin at 550,000 KRW and female building #5 twins at 660,000 KRW and 460,000 KRW; 8-week stays run from 200,000 KRW. The International House charges 6,500 KRW per day for a twin and 13,000 KRW per day for a single guest room. Cafeteria meals are described on the official site as costing less than USD 5, while the brochure gives an average off-campus housing figure of about 4,000,000 KRW per year excluding meals.
On the visa side, Daegu University’s official pages explain that students admitted to the Korean language program apply for a C-3 short-term visa or a D-4 general student visa, while undergraduate and graduate students should apply for a D-2 student visa; the certificate of admission issued by Daegu University is required when applying for the visa. The practical sequence the official pages imply is: pay tuition and dormitory fees after the billing notice, receive the visa documents from the university, obtain the visa, then travel and check in. Because the visa application needs the admission certificate, keeping the fee payment and document steps on schedule matters more than in programs where visas can be arranged in parallel.
A note on sources and timeliness
Everything above is drawn from the Daegu University official English website and the official 2024–2025 English brochure, both accessed on August 5, 2026. Tuition groups, scholarship percentages, dormitory rates, language requirements and intake schedules at Daegu University are revised periodically, so the current official pages are the binding reference for any specific decision. If you want to map your major, Korean level and budget against Daegu University realistically, the advisers on this site can help you work through your own situation.