Admission quotas in S Korea's medical schools to rise by 1,550 next year

SEOUL: Medical schools in South Korea are expected to admit approximately 1,550 more students next year, as they finalise plans to increase admission quotas.

The number marks a slight decrease from the government's earlier decision to add 2,000 seats, Yonhap news agency reported.

As per the government's revised directive announced last month, the universities are permitted to increase their admission quotas freely, with the annual increase ranging between 50 and 100 per cent, starting in 2025.

"The 32 medical schools subject to the increase had submitted their final plans to the Korean Council for University Education until yesterday," said Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, during a government meeting he presided over on Wednesday, referring to the nation's university governing body.

Assuming that the four universities that have not disclosed their enrollment quotas opt for a 100 per cent increase, the total number of available seats would hover around 1,550, a cut of 450 from the initial 2,000.

The precise figure for admissions will be unveiled by the council on Thursday.

The council will soon begin deliberating the proposed changes to the admission plans and inform universities of the result by the end of this month.

More than 90 per cent of the country's 13,000 trainee doctors have been on strike through mass resignations since February 20, protesting the government's decision to significantly increase the medical school enrollment quota. In solidarity with medical interns and residents, medical professors at major general hospitals nationwide have joined the movement.

In an attempt to break the stalemate with the doctors, the government accepted a request from the chiefs of six national universities for flexibility in expanding the medical school enrollment quota last month, the report said.