9.1% of Gifted High School Graduates Enter Medical and Pharmacy Schools... Government Moves to Curb 'Medical School Concentration' Phenomenon

Ministry of Education's 5th Comprehensive Plan for Gifted Education Promotion (2023?2027)
Recommendations for General High School Transfers and Scholarship Returns for Students Aspiring to Medical School

To prevent talented students in science and engineering fields from shifting to medical and pharmaceutical fields, the government will continue to promote measures that recommend transferring gifted school and science high school students who wish to pursue medical and pharmaceutical studies to general high schools and reclaim education expenses and scholarships.

On the 19th, the Ministry of Education announced the "5th Comprehensive Plan for the Promotion of Gifted Education (2023?2027)" containing these details.

To strengthen the operation of eight gifted schools and 20 science high schools nationwide and to prevent the concentration of talented students in medical schools, the Ministry of Education plans to continuously apply the "restrictions on admission to medical and pharmaceutical fields" independently established by gifted schools and science high schools. Last month, the admission rate to medical and pharmaceutical fields was 9.5% for gifted school graduates and 2.1% for science high school graduates.

This measure includes recommending students of gifted schools and science high schools who wish to enter medical and pharmaceutical fields to transfer to general high schools and return education expenses and scholarships. It also prohibits recording off-campus education and research activities in school records.

It has been applied uniformly to all gifted schools and science high schools nationwide starting with the 2022 academic year students currently in their second year, but some schools applied it earlier and have actually reclaimed scholarships and education expenses from students who entered medical schools this year.

Although scholarships vary individually and are difficult to aggregate, the education expense per person is known to be about 5 million KRW annually.

Furthermore, starting in 2025, a system will be operated to evaluate whether gifted schools are being run according to their founding purpose, thereby strengthening the accountability of gifted schools.

The degree to which private education is induced by gifted school entrance exams will also be checked annually and reflected in improvements to the entrance examination process.

To foster digital talents, the establishment of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) Science Gifted School affiliated with the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) is also being promoted.

The number of Software (SW) gifted classes will be expanded from 40 last year to 100 by 2027, and SW gifted education centers will increase from 5 in 2024 to 15 by 2027.

To discover highly gifted individuals with outstanding talent and potential, national-level identification standards will be established, and education and support systems tailored to individual characteristics will be reviewed.

The Ministry of Education also plans to diversify gifted education by expanding the currently music- and art-focused arts gifted education fields to include media, theater and film, and comic creation.

Online education for gifted students in humanities and social sciences will be operated, and the "Next-Generation Gifted Entrepreneur Education Center" will be expanded for invention and entrepreneurial gifted education.

Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said, "We will strengthen accountability to ensure that gifted schools and science high schools operate in accordance with their founding purpose of nurturing outstanding talents in science and engineering," adding, "We will make every effort to enable exceptional talents to achieve continuous success."