[Exclusive] UIC Officially States "Will Follow School Rules Even If 'Expulsion Deadline Extension' Request Comes"

Uichonghyeop President: "We Will Not Accept Return Extension Requests
KMA Should Simply Tell Medical Students to Return"
Medical School Deans to Review Status of Unregistered Students in Early April

The 'Council of Deans for the Advancement of Medical Schools (Uichonghyeop),' a gathering of presidents from 40 universities, has decided not to accept any official requests from the medical community to extend the dismissal deadline for unregistered medical students. The government also has no separate relief measures in place for students dismissed due to non-return, so the principle of 'freezing the medical school quota at 3,058 students for the 2026 academic year if medical students return by the end of March' is expected to remain unchanged.

On the 21st, the deadline set by some medical schools including Yonsei University, Korea University, and Kyungpook National University for returning approached, and books were placed in front of the lecture hall of Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul. 2025.3.21. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

On the 27th, Yang Obong, president of the Korea Council for University Education (Daegyo-hyeop) and chair of Uichonghyeop as well as president of Jeonbuk National University, said in a phone interview with Asia Economy, "We have not received any official requests from the medical community or others to extend the dismissal deadline," adding, "We will handle unreturned medical students according to school regulations and principles."

The Korean Medical Association (KMA) is reportedly considering requesting the government and universities to extend the dismissal deadline. The aim is to buy even one or two weeks to prevent unreturned medical students facing dismissal from suffering harm.

However, Uichonghyeop stated that even if the KMA officially proposes an extension of the dismissal deadline, it will not accept it. President Yang said, "We are not considering at all the request to extend the return deadline," and added, "The KMA could simply tell the students to 'return now,' so I do not understand why they ask to wait one or two weeks."

The deans of the 40 medical schools plan to meet in early next month to review the status of unregistered medical students who have not returned by the deadline, the dismissal and retention processing status, and future response plans. Uichonghyeop had planned to hold a meeting as early as this week since about half of the universities face registration and re-enrollment deadlines, but since some schools have a return deadline of the 31st, they decided to hold the general meeting after completing the return schedules for those universities as well.

Among the 40 medical schools, the return deadline for students at more than 30 schools is the 31st of this month. Medical students who do not return by the end of this month will be processed according to school regulations.

Although the government-set return deadline for medical students, which is a condition for restoring the medical school quota to the pre-expansion level next year, is fast approaching, a large number of 'unregistered' medical students who have neither paid tuition nor registered for courses are facing mass dismissal.

There are no relief measures at the government level. Last year, as it was the first year of medical school expansion, the government focused on protecting students and facilitating their return by announcing the 'Guidelines for Flexible Operation of Medical School Academics' to prevent dismissal and retention of medical students. However, this year the situation is different. For freshmen of the class of 2025, who entered knowing about the expansion, there is no justification for relief if they refuse classes due to the expansion and are processed according to school regulations. Moreover, if the non-return situation continues, next year the classes of 2024, 2025, and 2026 will have to be taught simultaneously (tripling), but currently even the simultaneous classes of 2024 and 2025 (doubling) are barely manageable, making tripling practically impossible. This is why the government and each medical school emphasize the need to normalize medical education this year by upholding 'school regulations' and 'principles.'

An official from the Ministry of Education said, "Above all, the class of 2024 cannot be readmitted once dismissed," adding, "If there are vacancies in that academic year, readmission is possible, but for next year, the first-year quota is already filled by the class of 2026, so there are no vacancies." The official also said, "Freshmen of the class of 2025, who are new this year, will not be dismissed but may be retained if they pay tuition," and added, "After each university processes students according to school regulations, there is no way for the Ministry of Education to provide relief."