Jeonui Association of Christian Medical Schools "Welcome the Rejection of Busan National University Medical School Enrollment Increase Regulation Amendment... Other Universities Should Follow"

"A Perfectly Reasonable Decision"

A group of medical school professors expressed their support for Busan National University, which rejected the amendment to the academic regulations to increase the medical school quota.

On the afternoon of the 7th, when the faculty meeting for revising the academic regulations related to the increase in the number of students at Pusan National University College of Medicine was held, medical students and professors were holding a picket protest at the university headquarters.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

The National Council of Medical School Professors (Jeonui Gyohyeop), an organization of professors from 40 medical schools, stated in a press release on the 8th, "We welcome Busan National University's decision to reject an unreasonable policy despite the anticipated various disadvantages from the government," and "The Busan National University Academic Affairs Committee declared that responsible parties of the national community should meet as soon as possible for sufficient discussion and social consensus before individual universities finalize the increase scale, and ultimately rejected the amendment to increase the medical school quota in the academic regulations."

They added, "This decision is a very reasonable one that shows the common sense of a rule-of-law country where laws and principles are respected," and said, "Policies that infringe on university autonomy and proceed unilaterally and coercively can never be justified."

They also argued that other universities should refer to the Busan National University case. The Jeonui Gyohyeop said, "If some universities have ignored the deliberation of the University Council in the academic regulation amendment process as a customary practice, from now on, they must follow the exemplary case of Busan National University and comply with the Higher Education Act, which specifies that the University Council's deliberation should precede academic regulation amendments."

They further urged, "The Ministry of Education should not take coercive administrative measures such as correction orders or suspension of student recruitment," and "The government should re-examine the scientific and procedural validity of increasing the medical school quota and turn toward the right direction even now."

Busan National University initially planned to amend the academic regulations to increase the medical school admission quota from 125 to 200 students and recruit about 163 students next year, which is approximately 50% of the increased quota. However, at the Academic Affairs Committee meeting held at the university headquarters the day before, the amendment to the partial academic regulations of Busan National University was rejected, stating that sufficient social discussion should precede finalizing the increase scale.

In response, the Ministry of Education announced on the same day, "We plan to issue a correction order and take administrative measures if it is not complied with."

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