Ministry of Education's Medical School Expansion Demand Reassessment Results
Universities Apply for Up to 5 Times Increase
Demand Maintained Due to 'Must Apply to Expand' Warning
Final Quota Allocation Confirmed Before April General Election
Forty universities nationwide with medical schools have applied to the government for an increase of 3,401 medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year. This figure exceeds the government's initial target of around 2,000 by more than 1,000.
On the 5th, the Ministry of Education announced the results of a demand survey conducted among 40 universities nationwide for increasing medical school admissions, totaling a demand for 3,401 additional spots. Twenty-seven universities outside the metropolitan area applied for a total increase of 2,471 spots, accounting for 72.6% of the total demand.
Eight universities located in Seoul applied for an increase of 365 spots, while five universities in Gyeonggi and Incheon applied for 565 additional spots. The demand survey was conducted from the time official letters were distributed to each university on the 22nd of last month until midnight the day before.
Park Min-su, the 2nd Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, stated at a briefing at the Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters in the Government Complex Sejong on the morning of the same day, "The universities' application results reaffirm that the scale of increase that can be immediately implemented in 2025, based on compliance with evaluation and accreditation standards and securing the quality of medical care, far exceeds 2,000." He added, "In particular, the 72% application rate for increases from universities outside the metropolitan area is interpreted as a strong regional desire to strengthen regional and essential medical care."
Based on the demand survey results conducted in November last year, the government had announced ‘an increase of 2,000’ as the minimum figure. At that time, each university submitted a demand ranging from a minimum of 2,151 to a maximum of 2,847 additional spots.
According to education circles on the same day, private universities outside the metropolitan area and regional flagship national universities reportedly requested to increase their current quotas by up to five times. Chungbuk National University in Cheongju, Chungbuk Province, applied to the Ministry of Education to increase its quota from the current 49 to 250.
On the 16th, when student representatives decided that medical students nationwide would submit leave of absence applications together on the 20th of this month in protest against the government's plan to increase medical school quotas by 2,000, the traffic light near a medical school in Seoul showed a red light. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung aymsdream@
Konkuk University Glocal Campus (Chungju) also requested an increase from 40 to 120 spots. Gyeongsang National University in Jinju, Gyeongnam Province, asked to increase its quota from 76 to 200. Kyungpook National University in Daegu announced it would apply to increase from 110 to 250 spots.
The medical community is opposing the increase in medical school admissions through collective actions such as mass resignation of residents and alliance leaves of absence by medical students. They argue that considering universities’ insufficient on-site capacity, the quality of education would decline and they would suffer from financial and manpower shortages. In fact, before submitting the demand applications, conflicts arose among university presidents, medical school deans, and professors. However, from the universities’ perspective, this is seen as an opportunity to increase their quotas, so they apparently did not reduce their demand applications.
The Ministry of Education, together with the Ministry of Health and Welfare, plans to form an allocation committee to finalize the number of admissions and notify universities of the allocation results as early as the end of this month. Since the Ministry of Health and Welfare has announced it will complete the distribution of increased medical school admissions by school by next month and finalize it before the April general election, the allocation process is expected to proceed quickly. Universities must post the revised college admission plan on their websites by the end of May.
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