Sogang University (SU) is a private research university established in 1960 by the Wisconsin Province of the Society of Jesus in Seoul, South Korea. It is the oldest Catholic and Jesuit institution of higher education in South Korea. Pope Pius XII started the establishment process of a Catholic institution of higher learning in Korea back in the the 1940s, which then eventually became Sogang University. The university have received the visits of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Mother Teresa in 1979 and of Pope John Paul II in 1984. Admission to Sogang University is highly selective and competitive for South Korean freshmen. Hence, the university is widely regarded as a top private university and one of the most prestigious elite schools in South Korea.