Nationwide Request to Increase Medical Students by 3,000 Met with Protests from Deans and Professors

Amid applications for over 3,000 medical school admissions for the 2025 academic year from 40 universities nationwide with medical schools, a series of protests by deans and professors from each university continues. They raised the level of their actions, including head shaving and administrative lawsuits, arguing that the government is sticking to the policy of increasing admissions by 2,000 without sufficient internal consultation.

Shin Chan-su, chairman of the Korean Association of Medical Colleges (KAMC), composed of medical school deans, said in a phone call on the 6th that the Ministry of Education's announcement of the medical school admission demand survey results the previous day was "a meaningless announcement," pointing out that "the number of 2,000 additional admissions has already been decided." He added, "It is most regrettable that the presidents ignored the desperate requests of professors to delay the increase application" and "that they strictly followed the Ministry of Education's guidelines."

Immediately after the announcement, professors strongly opposed it through joint statements, head-shaving ceremonies, and resignations. Professors at Kangwon National University Medical School held a head-shaving ceremony in front of the Kangwon National University Medical School building in Chuncheon City the previous morning, expressing their opposition to the university headquarters' unilateral decision on the scale of the increase. While professors said the current quota of 49 could only be increased to a maximum of 100, Kangwon National University applied for an increase of 140.

The National Council of Medical School Professors, consisting of 33 medical schools nationwide, filed an administrative lawsuit on the same day at the Seoul Administrative Court against the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education, requesting the cancellation of the 2025 medical school admission increase and subsequent measures. They also submitted a provisional injunction application to suspend the enforcement of the medical school admission increase. They claimed, "This is medical manipulation violating constitutional principles," and "It is unconstitutional as it violates the constitutional principle of due process by not consulting the stakeholders, including professors, residents, and medical students."

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Medical students have also expressed their protest by applying for a cumulative total of 14,043 leaves of absence from the start of the strike on the 19th of last month until the previous day. This accounts for 74.7% of all medical students.

Despite such opposition, university presidents maintain that there was no problem with the increase applications. Lee Hae-woo, president of Dong-A University, said in a phone call that day, "Our university has a large hospital bed capacity and scale, so we are in a position to increase admissions by about 100," explaining, "There were more supportive opinions among the deans and medical school professors, and the final decision is the president's authority." Dong-A University applied to increase its medical school quota from the current 49 to 100.

However, the Ministry of Education plans to maintain its existing position. A Ministry of Education official explained, "The scale of the 2,000 additional admissions remains unchanged," adding, "We will now evaluate and review each university's application and allocate within the 2,000 quota accordingly." Regarding the growing internal opposition, the official said, "We are always open to dialogue," but rebutted, "Since the university quotas are determined through consultation between the Minister of Health and Welfare and the Minister of Education, it is difficult to see this as an overreach."

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