Today is the medical students' return deadline... Now class participation is the issue

On the 31st, ahead of the government's deadline for medical students to return, all unregistered leave students from eight universities registered. The Ministry of Education plans to observe the return and class participation status of medical students until that day, then finalize and announce whether the number of medical school admissions for the 2026 academic year will be frozen.

Amid Korea University announcing that it will send expulsion notices to medical students who have not returned, a student is seen moving at Korea University College of Medicine in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul on March 28, 2025. Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

According to the education sector, following Seoul National University and Yonsei University, Korea University also completed the re-enrollment applications of all unregistered leave students. At Korea University, the re-enrollment rate was 60-70% at the application deadline on the 21st, but after it was reported on the 27th that all students from Seoul National University and Yonsei University would return, those planning to return increased to 80%. After the university postponed the expulsion date to the 31st, all students submitted re-enrollment applications. Additionally, Sungkyunkwan University, Catholic University, and Ulsan University joined the return trend, resulting in the so-called ‘Big 5’ medical schools’ students all returning. At the national flagship universities, Chungnam National University and Pusan National University, all medical students also returned, making it highly likely that the collective leave situation, which lasted over a year, will come to an end.

The key issue is whether they will participate in classes normally. The government’s condition to freeze the medical school quota at 3,058 students is not just ‘medical students’ return’ but the ‘normalization of medical education’ this year. Although the large-scale expulsion crisis was averted by medical students who were on unregistered leave paying tuition fees, some have stated they will continue their ‘protest’ by registering but refusing to attend classes, so it remains to be seen whether normal education is possible.

The government has been paying attention to the fact that the return rate exceeded half even before ‘registration followed by leave’ was mentioned. A Ministry of Education official said, "‘Return’ means that normal classes are being conducted at the school," and added, "Medical students who have expressed their intention to return so far are understood to mean they will come back and attend classes."

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