As the spring semester approaches, the Korean medical education industry is facing unprecedented difficulties. According to a report on the selection of medical school courses in the first semester of the 2025 academic year obtained from the Ministry of Education by Chen Shanmei, a member of the Education Committee of the South Korean National Assembly and a member of the Democratic Party, 10 out of 40 medical schools in the country had zero enrollment as of February 25th, accounting for as much as 1/4. This means that in these medical schools, there are no students choosing courses from the first year to the fourth year of undergraduate studies. Although most universities will accept additional course selection applications starting from March and the number of students who have not selected courses may change in the future, the current situation remains severe.
The report analyzes the course selection situation of 9 public schools out of 40 medical schools, and shows that a total of 852 first-year students have completed the course selection application. Considering that these 9 schools have a total of 1244 first-year students, the number of course selections is relatively ideal. However, another education official in South Korea still expressed concern about this data, pointing out that after the controversy surrounding the expansion of medical student enrollment erupted in February last year, most medical school freshmen only registered without attending classes, and this situation is likely to repeat itself this year.
The South Korean government released a plan to expand enrollment in medical schools in February last year, aiming to increase the number of medical school admissions by about 2000 annually for the next five years starting from the 2025 academic year, in order to address the shortage of doctors. But this plan has been strongly opposed by the medical community, who argue that it will lead to issues such as excessive medical treatment. Subsequently, tens of thousands of interns and resident doctors submitted resignations, went on strike and left their posts, and many medical students from universities also went on strike and collectively applied for leave of absence. In order to prevent students from taking collective leave of absence and repeating classes, many medical schools in South Korea have continuously postponed the start date since last year.
On the 3rd of this month, Busan University School of Medicine, a well-known university in South Korea, announced that 613 out of 746 students are still on leave. Due to the expansion of enrollment, students who took a leave of absence did not return to school this semester, causing difficulties in the operation of the medical school and disrupting the education plan for the new semester. Multiple students have taken the same course, and there is a shortage of teachers and teaching facilities.
Since the outbreak of strikes and class boycotts against the expansion of medical student enrollment plan in South Korea last year, the South Korean government has repeatedly urged the medical community to restart dialogue, stating that it will solve the difficulties faced by interns and residents, and improve the current situation of medical school education. South Korean Acting President Choi Sang mu stated in January this year that the government is open to adjusting the enrollment quota for medical schools for the 2026 academic year. At that time, the media predicted that this statement could resolve the conflict between medical and political affairs, but the situation has not yet improved.
On February 27th, the South Korean Ministry of Education announced that it would introduce measures targeting the medical education industry in March and encourage medical students to return to school, but there has been no actual action so far. According to a report by the South Korean newspaper Dong-A Ilbo, if medical students continue to take a collective leave of absence this year, medical education activities will not be able to proceed normally from next year onwards. Chen Shanmei stated that the low enrollment and return rates of medical schools indicate that the helpless state of the medical education industry has not yet changed. The Ministry of Education's delay in introducing improvement policies will only exacerbate industry chaos.
(Editer：admin)
