Meeting of Medical School Deans on the 11th
Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, stated on the 11th, "The situation where students do not return and medical school academic disruptions continue in the 2025 academic year is an absolute red line that must be prevented."
On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Lee held a meeting with the presidents of 40 universities operating medical schools at the Korea Educational Facilities Safety Institute in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, saying, "If students' non-return continues, grade retention or expulsion will be inevitable, and the process of students growing into medical professionals will be delayed, raising concerns about disruptions in the supply of medical personnel."
He added, "I ask each university to persuade students once again to return as much as possible within the 2024 academic year so that they can complete their courses," and said, "If even one student returns, please ensure that classes can be conducted smoothly through flexible academic management measures." He also emphasized, "If students do not return in the 2025 academic year, please provide sufficient prior notice that they may be subject to grade retention or expulsion according to each university's academic regulations."
Deputy Prime Minister Lee also requested the presidents, "In the future, universities should set the 'maximum number of students that can be educated beyond the quota' considering educational conditions and reflect this in their academic regulations," and added, "Please establish regulations to limit continuous leave of absence exceeding two semesters unless there are special reasons."
Regarding claims that the medical school curriculum would be uniformly shortened from six years to five years, he denied, saying, "That is absolutely not true." He elaborated, "Under the current Higher Education Act, the length of study can be shortened, and the emergency measures utilize this to maintain the medical school as a six-year program while allowing universities that wish to do so to flexibly operate their curricula without compromising educational quality. The government intends to actively support this."
After the meeting, the Ministry of Education stated, "We shared a consistent policy that strike-related leave of absence is not a legitimate reason for leave, and explained the importance of universities' efforts to bring students back, procedures for approving leave, and curriculum preparation." The university presidents agreed at the meeting that medical schools must be normalized by the 2025 academic year at the latest, and shared with the Ministry that internal discussions have begun following the announcement of the emergency measures.
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