Confirmed Admission Quotas for 32 Medical Schools Nationwide... Around 1,550 Additional Students

Review Initiated, Court Requests 'Evidence for Increase'
Higher Education Council Expected to Accelerate Review After Mid-Month Following Court's Request
Evidence for Increase Scale Prepared Through 'University-Specific On-Site Inspections'

The 32 medical schools with increased admission quotas have finalized their recruitment numbers for the 2025 academic year on the 1st.

Amid ongoing legislative conflicts, medical staff are moving at a university hospital in Gwangju on the 26th.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The Korea Council for University Education (KCUE), a university consortium, has begun reviewing changes to next year's university admission plans submitted by each university, including medical school recruitment numbers, and plans to notify the universities by the end of this month.

Prime Minister Han Duck-soo chaired the "Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters Meeting on Medical Staff Collective Action" at the Government Seoul Office and stated, "The 32 medical schools nationwide with increased quotas have decided their recruitment numbers for the 2025 academic year and submitted them to the KCUE by yesterday."

Among the 32 medical schools, 30 had decided their recruitment numbers and submitted changes to their admission plans to the KCUE by the afternoon of the previous day, and Jeonnam National University and CHA University of Medicine also finalized their recruitment numbers.

Jeonnam National University plans to recruit 163 students, an increase of 38 from the previous quota of 125 medical school entrants. The original increase was 75, but they decided to reduce it by half. As a result, the number of medical school recruits for the 2025 academic year is expected to increase by more than 1,500 compared to last year.

Additionally, all nine regional national universities will recruit about 50% of their previously announced increased quotas, while most private universities plan to recruit 100% of their increased quotas or reduce them slightly by 10 to 20 students.

Private universities such as Soonchunhyang University, Dankook University, Konyang University, and CHA University of Medicine, which have not disclosed the exact increase scale, are assumed to recruit 100% of their quotas. If so, the total medical school recruitment number next year is expected to be around 1,550, down by 450 from the original 2,000.

The KCUE will release the results of the recruitment number compilation on the 2nd. By the end of this month, the KCUE will hold an admissions committee meeting to review the changes to the university admission plans submitted by each university.

The KCUE's review includes not only the increased medical school quotas but also universities that need to change their admission plans announced last year due to department reorganizations and quota adjustments.

A KCUE official explained, "There are subcommittees before the main admissions committee meeting, so the review process can be considered to have started from this month."

The main review is likely to proceed after mid-month. Although the deadline for submitting changes to the admission plans was the previous day, some universities missed the deadline and must submit their changes by mid-month.

Furthermore, the court's request the previous day to delay approval of the government's medical school quota increase policy until mid-month is also expected to have an impact.

The Seoul High Court, during the hearing on the injunction appeal against the medical school quota increase, requested the government, "A decision will be made before mid-May, so the final approval (of the increase) should not be granted before then."

Regarding this, the KCUE stated, "Since the review is scheduled to be completed by the end of May according to the basic admission plan, there is no procedural problem even if the court has made such a request."

An official from the Ministry of Education also said, "The KCUE's review results will come out by the end of May anyway," but added, "Considering the court's request, we asked the KCUE to conduct the review after mid-month."

The government has begun preparing related materials in response to the court's demand for evidence regarding the 2,000 medical school quota increase.

Previously, medical students, professors, and residents filed several injunction applications to the court to halt the effect of the government's decision to increase and allocate 2,000 medical school quotas, but these were repeatedly dismissed. This is the first time the court has publicly requested the government to disclose the basis for the increase.

Considering the court's mention of strict on-site inspections before the 2009 implementation of the law school system, it is expected that the on-site inspection data conducted nationwide at medical schools and university headquarters at the end of last year to decide the increase scale will be used as key evidence.

An official from the Ministry of Education said, "We plan to thoroughly explain the basis for the 2,000 quota increase decision to the court," and added, "We will discuss with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and prepare the materials diligently by the submission deadline on the 10th."