Revisions Must Be Completed by the End of This Month... "Haven't Started Yet"
Government and Medical Community Negotiation Variables... Adjustment Requested to Daekyohyeop
Universities that need to reflect the expansion of medical school quotas for the 2025 academic year are hesitant to hastily revise related academic regulations. Although the revision work must be completed by the 30th of this month, variables such as negotiations between the government and the medical community remain.
According to the education sector on the 18th, although medical school quotas were allocated to each university last month, some universities have not yet started the procedure to reflect this in their academic regulations. One national university, seeing it impossible to complete the revision by the set deadline of the 30th of this month, requested the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) to postpone the submission date.
A medical school in Seoul on the 20th, when the results of the increased medical school admission quota distribution, which triggered conflicts between the medical community and the government, were announced. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@
An official from this university stated, "The procedure for revising the medical school academic regulations has not yet begun," and added, "We explained the situation to KCUE and plan to proceed with the revision by early May." Another university official also confessed, "We have not yet started revising the academic regulations," and said, "It seems it will be delayed a little beyond April 30."
The Ministry of Education announced the allocation of medical school quotas by university on the 20th of last month, but there are remaining procedures before this can be reflected in the actual admissions plans. Universities must revise their academic regulations related to quotas and amend the 2025 university admissions implementation plans they submitted last year. If these are submitted to KCUE by the end of April, after KCUE’s approval, universities will post their admissions implementation plans and announce early admissions guidelines by the end of May.
The problem lies not only in the approximately two-month ‘medical gap’ issue but also in the possibility of changes to government policies on medical school quota expansion following the ruling party’s defeat in the general election. An official from a regional medical school said, "We are proceeding with the academic regulation revision as an administrative procedure," but added, "How external environmental changes will affect this is a separate matter."
The revision of academic regulations varies by university but generally goes through internal regulation review committees, councils, and boards of directors before being promulgated. Some universities emphasized that if the procedure is expedited, the academic regulations can be revised within the roughly two weeks remaining until the deadline. An official from a private university in the metropolitan area said, "Since the revision can proceed after the announcement, there is no major problem. There is enough time."
Meanwhile, students from regional medical schools where the quota expansion was concentrated have decided to file lawsuits against their universities to prevent the expanded quotas from being reflected in next year’s admissions plans. Lee Byung-chul, the lawyer representing them, stated, "On the 22nd, about 13,000 students from 32 regional medical schools nationwide will file injunctions against the presidents of their respective universities to prohibit changes to the admissions implementation plans."
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