With the spring semester approaching, a quarter of South Korea’s medical schools have seen no students sign up for courses amid ongoing opposition to a government plan to expand medical school admissions. Even freshmen who entered medical schools this year appear to have joined the boycott.
According to data submitted by the Education Ministry to Rep. Jin Sun-mi of the Democratic Party on Feb. 3, only 4,219 students had registered for courses as of Feb. 25 at 40 medical schools nationwide.
Ten schools had no students sign up for any courses across all four years of study, including this year’s incoming class. However, most schools allow additional registration in March, meaning the final number could change.
A separate analysis of registration data from nine national universities—excluding Seoul National University—showed that 852 first-year premedical students had enrolled.
However at some schools, including Kyungpook National University and Jeonbuk National University, administrators had pre-registered students for mandatory liberal arts courses, calling into question the actual level of participation.
The registration rate was even lower among students who took a leave of absence last year. At Jeju National University and Jeonbuk National University, not a single returning first-year student signed up for courses, while at Pusan National University, only four non-freshmen first-year students registered.
As tensions between the government and medical students drag on for a second year, some medical schools are delaying the start of classes until mid-March or later, with some pushing back their schedules into April.
