'Class Boycott' Continues Despite Medical School Quota Freeze... Chonnam National University and Chosun University Notify Students of Academic Probation

Finalized at the End of the Academic Year
Concerns Rise Over Potential 'Tripling' Phenomenon

With the prolonged conflict over medical legislation, Chonnam National University and Chosun University have begun notifying medical students who have continued their class boycott that they are subject to academic probation.

According to local universities on April 21, Chonnam National University recently began individually notifying third- and fourth-year medical students who have been absent from clinical practice lectures that they are subject to academic probation.

The university also plans to start notifying first- and second-year pre-medical and first- and second-year medical students individually, starting April 22, if they have not attended classes. Chonnam National University Medical School has 893 enrolled students, with a reported lecture participation rate of less than 10%. In the medical program, students who fail to attend at least one-fourth or one-third of the required class days for any subject in a semester and receive an F grade are inevitably subject to academic probation. Pre-medical students may receive an academic warning.

Chosun University Medical School has also recently sent text messages to students notifying them of the lapse in class attendance periods, making them aware of their academic probation status. The attendance rate among Chosun University's 878 enrolled medical students is reported to be around 20%.

Each university plans to finalize academic probation decisions at the end of the academic year, as is customary for non-clinical subjects, taking into account the standard practice of determining probation status at year-end.

Meanwhile, on April 17, the Ministry of Education announced that the number of medical school admissions for the 2026 academic year had been set at 3,058, the same as before the planned increase. However, the nationwide return rate of medical students to their schools remains minimal. There are growing concerns within the medical community that if this situation continues, a 'tripling' phenomenon could occur, in which students from the 2024, 2025, and 2026 cohorts all receive first-year education simultaneously, potentially leading to a collapse in the quality of medical education.