The idea of the Songdo Global University Campus was first conceived by the city of Incheon in 2006 to let prestigious foreign universities operate extended campuses where students can obtain degrees in the Incheon Free Economic Zone. The city government's support programs for foreign universities include giving US$1 million to each foreign university if it sets up a branch here and begins developing an undergraduate program.

Currently, 15 foreign universities are seeking to open branches on the Songdo Global University Campus. All but one, the University of Pavia in Italy, are American. Among them, Duke University, Columbia University, Boston University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of California, San Diego have not yet signed memoranda of understanding with the IFEZ Authority and are still in negotiations.

Among the seven universities that have already signed MOU's for undergraduate programs, North Carolina State University and State University of New York at Stony Brook have made the fastest progress.

North Carolina, which has distinguished itself in veterinary medicine and bioengineering, is to begin recruiting freshmen in Songdo in the fall 2010 or in 2011. The school is set to recruit a small number first, rising to more than 2,000 in the long term.

SUNY at Stony Brook, which ranks high among American universities in natural science and engineering, will start recruiting students for its school of business administration here in fall 2010, open an English-language institute in spring 2011, and recruit freshmen in earnest in fall the same year.