Seoul National University and Other Capital Area Universities to Increase Enrollment in Advanced Departments for the First Time in 24 Years

Ministry of Education Announces 2024 General University Advanced Field Quota Adjustments
Seoul National University +218, Korea University +56, Yonsei University +24

More talents in advanced fields such as semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI), future cars, and robotics will be produced from four-year general universities. The admission quotas for advanced field undergraduate programs at 10 universities in the Seoul metropolitan area, including Seoul National University, will also increase for the first time in 24 years.

On the 27th, the Ministry of Education announced that it had finalized the adjustment results for the admission quotas in advanced fields at general universities for the 2024 academic year and notified each university.

The quota adjustment was made for the first time after the Ministry of Education improved the system last year to allow universities to increase quotas in advanced fields if they meet the faculty securing rate, thereby enabling a net increase in the total university admission quotas while promoting the cultivation of talents in advanced fields such as semiconductors.

First, the quotas for advanced field departments will increase by a net 1,829 students. In the metropolitan area, 19 departments will increase by 817 students, and in non-metropolitan areas, 31 departments will increase by 1,012 students. The metropolitan area universities accepted 14.2% of the applicants, while non-metropolitan universities accepted 77.4% of the applicants.

This is the first time since 2000, after 24 years, that the Ministry of Education has increased admission quotas for metropolitan universities without any special conditions. Although quota increases for metropolitan universities were possible through the establishment of new advanced departments from the 2021 to 2023 academic years, conditions such as utilizing transfer student vacancies were required.

By field, the net increases are as follows: ▲Semiconductors: 14 departments, 654 students ▲AI: 7 departments, 195 students ▲Software (SW) and Communications: 6 departments, 103 students ▲Energy and New Materials: 7 departments, 276 students ▲Future Cars and Robotics: 11 departments, 339 students ▲Bio: 5 departments, 262 students.

Additionally, with this expansion, Seoul National University increased by 218 students, Korea University by 56 students, and Yonsei University by 24 students. A Ministry of Education official stated, "Although metropolitan universities applied for many increases, we minimized quota increases in the metropolitan area and tried to allow as many increases as possible in regional universities, considering balanced talent cultivation between metropolitan and regional areas."

The Ministry of Education also finalized the quota adjustment results for the health sector on the same day. The nursing department quota increased by 385 students, and including 25 students returned from discontinued nursing departments, a total of 410 students were allocated to 39 universities.

The clinical pathology department will increase by 27 students at 11 universities, the pharmacy department by 17 students at 8 universities, the dental technology department by 30 students at 1 university, and the occupational therapy department by 48 students at 5 universities.

However, unlike in advanced fields, universities with increased quotas in the health and medical fields must reduce quotas in other departments to maintain the total admission quota.

Each university will apply for approval of changes to the 2024 academic year admission plan to the Korea Council for University Education (KCUE) based on the quota adjustment results and announce the recruitment guidelines by the end of next month after approval.

The Ministry of Education plans to continue increasing university quotas in advanced fields next year as well.

A Ministry of Education official explained, "The Ministry's policy of restructuring universities and avoiding unnecessary quota increases remains unchanged. However, increasing quotas for advanced talents is inevitable for national competitiveness, so this decision was made after careful consideration."

He added, "Since there is a target to increase the semiconductor bachelor's quota by 2,000 students by 2027, we plan to monitor this result and continue to increase university quotas in advanced fields in the future."

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