Government's 'Conditional Leave of Absence Approval' Measure... Cold Response from Medical Students: "Nonsense"

Medical Students Protest Despite Additional Measures by Ministry of Education
Medical Community Also Says "State Cannot Force Return"
Possibility of Continued Collective Leave Until Next Year

The Ministry of Education has announced a measure to approve leave of absence for medical students on the condition that they return in the first semester of next year, but the response from the medical students is cold. The approach of requiring students, who are effectively on a 'collective leave of absence,' to express their intention to return and complete related procedures is seen as largely ineffective.

One medical student said in a phone interview with Asia Economy on the 7th, "Students do not see much difference from the situation before the announcement of the measures," adding, "They feel that calling it a conditional leave of absence and presenting it as a new event is nonsensical."

He continued, "Some schools have recorded students as withdrawn due to non-registration in the second semester, and in such situations, students struggled between choosing leave of absence or withdrawal," explaining, "From the students' perspective, they submitted leave of absence applications while fully complying with procedural legality, so being asked to complete additional procedures feels burdensome."

The Korean Medical Association also criticized in a joint statement the day before, saying, "Medical students' leave of absence is based on free will, and the state cannot force their return," and added, "They are rushing out hasty measures that forcibly adjust academic schedules without any qualitative consideration of medical education, such as shortening the medical education curriculum from six years to five years, trying to cover up poor education."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

The day before, the Ministry of Education announced an 'Emergency Measure for Normalizing Medical School Academics,' stating that it would approve leave of absence on the premise that medical students return at the start of the first semester next year to persuade those who have not returned to classes. With the collective leave of absence by medical students continuing for eight months, the Ministry judged this as the 'golden time and last chance for student return' and introduced additional measures.

However, for students who have no intention of returning, universities will apply academic penalties such as repeating a year or withdrawal according to their respective regulations. Additionally, to guarantee the class rights of returning students, a Medical Education Support Center will be operated to share and support so-called 'jokbo' (exam questions and materials). To minimize the gap in medical workforce training, the Ministry is also considering shortening the current six-year medical education curriculum to a maximum of five years.

However, as the medical community strongly opposed, the Ministry clarified in explanatory materials that "the contents included in the 'Emergency Measure for Normalizing Medical School Academics (draft)' do not mean uniformly converting medical schools to a five-year system or mandating a shortened curriculum," and explained, "It aims to maintain the six-year system while allowing universities to shorten the curriculum operation within one year if they wish, providing support for substantive implementation."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Some express concerns that if the medical education curriculum is reorganized, there might be changes in the accreditation review by the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE). KIMEE's medical education accreditation evaluates whether medical schools have appropriate educational quality to train prospective doctors, and medical schools that fail to obtain accreditation are prohibited from recruiting new students under the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act.

Regarding this, KIMEE stated, "If universities follow the Ministry of Education's plan, it is a point to be reviewed," adding, "It is still unknown how it will affect the accreditation review."

If medical students do not respond to the Ministry of Education's additional measures, the collective leave of absence is expected to continue until next year. According to Baek Seung-ah, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, the number of leave of absence applicants this year at five national universities (Kangwon National University, Kyungpook National University, Gyeongsang National University, Pusan National University, and Chonnam National University) totaled 2,661 for both semesters. Of these, only 173 (6.5%) were approved for leave of absence. The remaining 2,488 (93.5%) are currently pending leave of absence processing.