This undated file photo shows a corridor inside a university general hospital in Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — Nine state-run medical schools have requested an increase of over 2,000 faculty members over the next six years to meet their expanded student admission quotas, far exceeding the government’s plan for an increase of 1,000, an analysis showed Wednesday.
The nine medical schools said they need a combined 2,363 additional medical professors from 2025 through 2030, according to their faculty demand surveys recently submitted to the education ministry, which were relayed to and analyzed by Rep. Jin Sun-mee of the Democratic Party.
In efforts to improve education conditions in medical schools, the education ministry collected these surveys from 32 medical schools, whose admission quotas are set to increase by about 1,500 seats next year as part of the government’s medical reform.
The nine universities analyzed requested that the government increase the number of professors in basic medical science by a total of 421 while adding 1,942 additional faculty members in clinical medicine through 2030.
Of them, the medical schools from Jeju National University and Chungnam National University both requested 23 additional basic medical science professors for next year, marking the highest number requested.
Jeju National University also requested the highest number of 200 new clinical medical professors for next year, followed by 105 requested by Chungnam National University.
If no new medical professors are hired, the student-to-professor ratio at these state-run medical schools is expected to rise to as high as 17.4 following the hike in admission quotas.
Currently, Pusan National University’s medical school has the highest student-to-professor ratio among state-run institutions, at 10.4.
The request for over 2,000 new professors by the nine medical schools represents far more than what the government has pledged. The education ministry has said that some 1,000 additional full-time professors will be added across state medical schools with increased quotas over a three-year period.
These wide gaps suggest that state medical schools may face challenges in securing the medical faculty they need following the quota hikes, Jin noted.
(Yonhap)
