This file photo, taken April 8, 2025, shows a medical school in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The government on Thursday announced its decision to return the nation’s medical school enrollment quota for 2026 to the former level of 3,058 from two years ago, in a bid to resolve a 14-month standoff with trainee doctors and medical students.
Since February last year, thousands of trainee doctors have left their jobs and medical students have refused to attend classes in fierce protest against the government’s push that increased medical school admissions by 2,000 this year.
“We sincerely apologize to the public for raising concerns about a potential setback in medical reform,” Education Minister Lee Ju-ho said during a news conference at the Seoul government complex as he announced the decision to revert the quota to 3,058, which is the same as the year 2024 and before.
Lee warned this will be the “last time” the government will grant such “special measures” for medical students.
Last year, the entrance quota for medical schools was increased by 2,000 seats to 5,058 beginning in 2025 as part of efforts to address a shortage of medical services in rural areas and essential medical disciplines.
The move was met with fierce protest from doctors and medical students, causing prolonged disruption to medical education and ongoing boycotts.
The government earlier promised to revert to the former quota level if all medical students return to schools by the end of March after a yearlong class boycott.
Between late last month and early this month, nearly all medical students completed their registration or reenrollment procedures. However, many students still continued their protests by refusing to attend classes, with the actual return rate standing at an average of 25.9 percent across the nation’s 40 medical schools.
The government also plans to revise the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act to establish the legal basis for adjusting the medical school enrollment quota.
Each university must submit their revised admission plan that reflects the adjusted medical school quotas, with the cap set at 3,058 students, to the Korean Council for University Education, an association of university presidents, by the end of this month.
After approval from the council, the final enrollment numbers for each medical school will be officially announced in late May.
Meanwhile, civic groups, including patient advocacy organizations, criticized the government’s decision, calling it a “fraud against the public.”
“The suffering that patients with serious illnesses had to go through has all become meaningless with the education ministry’s decision to return the medical school enrollment quota,” the Korea Severe Disease Association said in a press release.
Concerns are also mounting over the so-called “tripling” crisis, where students admitted in 2024 and 2025 will need to attend classes with those entering in 2026, if they continue with their boycott.
In such a scenario, more than 10,000 students would be required to take first-year courses at the same time — a situation the government and universities have warned is physically impossible.
(Yonhap)
