Despite 'Flexible Operation' at Universities... Nationwide Medical Students' Attendance Rate Only 2.7%

Only 495 Medical Students Nationwide Attended
1.7% Attendance Rate for First-Year Pre-Med Students

The Ministry of Education announced the 'Flexible Operation Guidelines for Medical School Academics' last month to prevent medical students from repeating a year, but it was found that the attendance rate of medical students was only 2.7%.

According to the 'National Medical Student Attendance Status' received by Jin Sun-mi, a member of the National Assembly Education Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, as of the 22nd of last month, out of 18,217 enrolled students at 40 medical schools nationwide, only 495 students, or 2.7%, were attending classes.

This figure is based on the actual enrolled students excluding 1,128 students on leave due to military service or illness from the total 19,345 enrolled students at the 40 medical schools. The attendance numbers from six universities that reported difficulty in tracking attendance were excluded from the statistics.

By grade, the first-year pre-medical students recorded the lowest attendance rate of 1.7%, with 53 out of 3,191 students attending.

Second-year pre-medical students had 88 out of 2,996 students attending (2.9%), first-year medical students had 90 out of 3,095 (2.9%), second-year medical students had 83 out of 2,983 (2.8%), third-year medical students had 77 out of 2,986 (2.6%), and fourth-year medical students had 104 out of 2,966 (3.5%).

In four universities, there were no students attending classes at all, and some medical schools had only 1 student attending out of 267, 1 out of 446, 2 out of 215, 2 out of 544, and 3 out of 242 enrolled students respectively.

Assemblywoman Jin Sun-mi stated, "The guidelines announced by the Ministry of Education are measures that can be applied if medical students return, but if the students do not actually return, these measures will have no effectiveness at all. If the repetition of medical students is confirmed as it is now, in the 2025 academic year, first-year and new students will have to attend classes together, which is impossible to accommodate under the current medical education conditions."

On the 10th of last month, the Ministry of Education allowed universities to flexibly operate academics to prevent medical students from repeating a year by offering additional courses for subjects not completed in the first semester during the second semester and deciding on repetition not at the end of the semester but at the end of the academic year.

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