Med schools expect 1,500 new admissions next year

Medical schools that have been allocated additional seats anticipate opening a minimum of a total of 1,500 new slots for the upcoming year, as they are set to make final decisions on their admissions availability following the government’s decision to grant flexibility in the quota allocation.

The government earlier said it would allow medical schools to freely adjust new seats within a 50 to 100 percent range of the enrollment quota given to them for the 2025 academic year. It announced in February its plan to increase the quota by 2,000. The medical school limit for new students has been capped at 3,058 per year since 2006, when it was lowered from 3,507 to assuage doctors protesting the policy of separating the prescribing and dispensing of drugs at that time.

While the admissions quotas at the 32 medical schools that received the increase are slowly taking shape, the shrinking of the quotas at national universities is likely to happen, according to reports Sunday, citing educational authorities. Meanwhile the eight schools located in Seoul will not receive any increase for 2025.

Kyungpook National University, which has 110 seats in its current quota, has decided to accept 45 additional medical students for next year, half of the initially proposed increase. Gyeongsang National University and Jeju National University will recruit 62 and 30 new students, respectively, coming to half the planned expansion.

Chungbuk National University, which got the largest increase of 151 new admissions spots, will reportedly settle on its quota this week, as will Kangwon National University and Chungnam National University.

Private schools Yonsei University in Gangwon Province and Daegu Catholic University received seven and 40 new slots, respectively. Along with other private colleges such as Inje University, Kosin University, Dong-A University, Chosun University, Keimyung University and Yeungnam University, these private medical schools will likely fill all of their increased admissions quotas.

In line with these adjustments, the total medical school enrollment quota is likely to increase by approximately 1,500 or 1,700 seats, versus the government‘s currently proposed 2,000, according to observers.

Each university must submit its finalized enrollment quota to the Korean Council for University Education by the end of this month.

Meanwhile, five medical schools will start their first day of school next month, with students showing little signs of willingness to return, and as medical professors are resigning.

Konyang University, Chosun University and Inha University — which were initially to start classes Monday — have postponed the start of the new semester, according to reports. The three schools have yet to specify the date for the new academic calendar. Soonchunhyang University has not determined when classes will start, while Chung-Ang University starts school Wednesday.