Medical students are not returning... Second semester enrollment rate falls below 4%

National Medical Schools' Second Semester Enrollment Rate 3.4%
9 Medical Schools with Zero Enrollment

The average enrollment rate for the second semester at 40 medical schools nationwide was found to be less than 4%.

Although the Ministry of Education prepared the 'Flexible Academic Operation Guidelines for Medical Schools,' assuring medical students that they would not be held back if they simply returned to classes, it appears this did not help encourage their return.

According to the 'Medical Students and Enrollment Status' data received by Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party, from the Ministry of Education, as of the 2nd of this month, only 653 students had paid tuition for the second semester at 40 medical schools nationwide. This accounts for just 3.4% of the total 19,374 enrolled students (including active and on-leave students) across these schools.

Despite the Ministry of Education signaling to medical students that they would not be held back if they returned and using this measure to encourage their comeback, medical students have not responded. Among 10 national universities, only 191 students, or 3.2% of the 5,919 enrolled medical students, registered. At 30 private universities, only 462 out of 13,455 enrolled medical students registered, showing a 3.4% enrollment rate.

By university, nine medical schools?two national and seven private?had zero registrations. Including these, 20 medical schools, half of all, had single-digit registration numbers. The highest registration rate was 20%, with 71 out of 355 enrolled students registering at a certain private university. Next was a national university with 87 students registered, accounting for 11.8% of its 740 enrolled students. Excluding these two, all other medical schools had single-digit registration rates.

Attendance was also low. As of July 22, the total number of attending students at 40 medical schools was 495 (excluding some universities where attendance could not be confirmed), which is only 2.6% of the total enrolled students (19,345). Attendance rates by year were as follows: 1.6% for first-year pre-med, 2.7% for second-year pre-med, 2.7% for first-year medical, 2.6% for second-year medical, 2.4% for third-year medical, and 3.4% for fourth-year medical students.

Representative Jin stated, "Medical students are facing not only a large-scale retention crisis but also the possibility of expulsion," and added, "The education authorities should stop merely telling students to return to school unconditionally and instead present realistic alternatives."