Medical School Faculty Association Urges Ministry of Education to Withdraw Enforcement Decree Undermining Korea Medical Education Assessment Institute

A group of medical school professors demanded the Ministry of Education withdraw its amendment to the enforcement decree concerning medical education evaluation and accreditation.

The National Council of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Gyohyeop) and the Emergency Committee of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Bi) stated on the 3rd, "The Ministry of Education's amendment to the enforcement decree is merely a patch-up of the government's wrong measures, ignoring the qualitative decline in medical education caused by reckless increases in medical school admissions."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At the end of last month, the Ministry of Education announced a legislative notice for partial amendments to regulations on the evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions.

At that time, the Ministry explained the reason for the amendment as "to establish grounds for extending the validity period of existing evaluations and accreditations when there is no accrediting agency or when evaluation and accreditation are impossible, so that universities and students do not suffer damage due to the absence of an accrediting agency."

The amendment allows the extension of the validity period of existing evaluations and accreditations if the current accrediting agency cannot conduct evaluations and accreditations. It also stipulates that in the event of a large-scale disaster disrupting the normal academic operations of medical schools, the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE) must grant medical schools a supplementary period of more than one year before issuing a non-accreditation.

Due to these provisions, medical organizations have criticized the amendment as an attempt by the Ministry of Education to undermine KIMEE's accreditation, and on the 4th, just before the deadline for submitting opinions, they again demanded the withdrawal of the enforcement decree.

Jeonui Gyohyeop and Jeonui Bi said, "The legislative opinion board is currently flooded with deep concerns and opposition to the amendment," adding, "The medical community has also expressed a unified stance opposing the amendment."

They continued, "KIMEE itself, as the party concerned, has submitted an opinion opposing the amendment to the enforcement decree that undermines its independence and autonomy," urging, "Withdraw the amendment to the enforcement decree immediately as it contradicts the fundamental purpose of the Higher Education Act to maintain the quality of education."