Ministry of Education Dismisses Possibility of Abolishing CSAT... "Major Framework of Current College Admission System to be Maintained"

On the 17th, when the 2023 College Scholastic Ability Test was held, examinees who finished the exam were leaving the test site at Yeouido Girls' High School in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Byung-don] The Ministry of Education announced on the 21st that it is not considering abolishing the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) at all.

In a press release on the same day, the Ministry explained, "Considering the predictability of college admissions for students and parents, as well as the stable operation of the education field, we plan to maintain the overall consistency of the current college admissions system."

This statement is interpreted as a clarification following an interview in which Lee Ju-ho, Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Minister of Education, said, "As the current Minister of Education, college admissions can only be fine-tuned, but I believe the CSAT should rightfully be abolished, and I think it will be abolished."

Regarding this, the Ministry of Education stated, "The intention is to emphasize the need for changes in classroom teaching and to reflect long-term changes in the classroom in college admissions."

Currently, the Ministry is preparing a reform plan for the college admissions system in line with the implementation of the high school credit system. They plan to gather opinions from high schools, universities, and experts, and collaborate with the National Education Commission to develop the plan.

The reform plan is scheduled to be finalized in February 2024 and applied starting from the 2028 college admissions for the current first-year middle school students.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.