Medical Students Group "Ministry of Education and KIMEE Intimidation... Must Withdraw Legislative Notice"

"The intention is to pass this increase even if the Uipyungwon cannot be neutralized"

A medical student organization has criticized the Ministry of Education, which is pushing for a plan to grant medical schools a supplementation period of more than one year before the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) issues a non-accreditation evaluation.

The Korean Medical School and Medical Graduate School Student Association (KMSA) released a statement on the 2nd, saying, "The Ministry of Education seems to acknowledge the unreasonable (medical school expansion) policy by attempting to nullify the effect of accreditation or avoid accreditation based on the premise of (KIMEE's) non-accreditation," and added, "They are trying to undermine the independence of KIMEE by including representatives from patient and consumer groups on its board of directors, and are threatening to revoke the accreditation agency's qualification if the evaluation criteria are violated."

Earlier, on the 27th of last month, the government announced the legislative notice of a partial amendment to the 'Regulations on Evaluation and Accreditation of Higher Education Institutions,' which includes granting medical schools a supplementation period of more than one year before KIMEE issues a non-accreditation in cases where academic operations at medical schools are not conducted normally due to large-scale disasters.

KMSA emphasized, "Offering a supplementation period in case of non-accreditation means that even if KIMEE cannot be neutralized, this expansion will be approved," and added, "By legally defining the 'occurrence of a large-scale disaster,' the government is admitting that it has itself brought a large-scale disaster upon the Republic of Korea."

They further stated, "The Ministry of Education should withdraw the legislative notice of the KIMEE enforcement decree and uphold common sense by patiently awaiting accreditation," and "It must face responsibility for the self-inflicted disruption of medical education."