South Korea’s medical schools to spike admission seats by over 1,500 next year

Medical schools in South Korea are expected to push to increase their admission slots by 1,500 to 1,600 next year, as most of them have finalised their academic plans for the year 2025, education and university officials said on Tuesday.

The government allocated an additional 2,000 medical school admission seats to universities across the nation last month amid protests from both junior and senior doctors, Yonhap news agency reported.

National universities in provincial cities were previously considered the biggest beneficiaries of the enrollment quota increase but have decided to reduce their admission seats allocated by the government by up to 50 per cent.

But most private universities have decided to nearly fully accept the government-allotted new slots, rendering the aggregate increase to between 1,500 and 1,600, the officials said.

For instance, Kangwon National University’s medical school in Chuncheon, 76 kilometres east of Seoul, decided to increase its admission slots by 42, compared with the government’s allotment of 83, while Chungbuk National University’s medical school in Cheongju, 112 km south of Seoul, settled on an increase of 76 seats, compared with the government’s allotment of 151.

Over 90 per cent of the country’s 13,000 trainee doctors went on strike in late February to protest the planned increase in medical school admissions.