S. Korean medical students’ deadline to resume classes expires on Monday

Seoul, March 31
The government-imposed deadline for all medical students nationwide to return to classes from mass yearlong leaves of absence is set to expire on Monday, as almost all students at major medical schools in South Korea have already decided to resume their studies.

The March 31 deadline was set by the government early this month, when it announced a conditional decision to place the medical school enrolment quota for 2026 at 3,058, which is equivalent to the figure before the government put forward a plan to increase admissions by 2,000 a year ago to address a chronic shortage of doctors, Yonhap news agency reported.

The government said the revised quota will be contingent on the return of all medical students who have been boycotting classes and taking collective leaves of absence in protest of the expansion of the medical school quota.

Medical students initially reacted coldly to the government's proposal but have gradually changed their positions due largely to their professors' earnest persuasion and medical schools' hard-line reactions, such as a threat to expel students who fail to meet the deadline.

Except for Kangwon National University and Jeonbuk National University, which extended their deadline to early to mid-April, a total of 38 medical schools across the country are set to close their course registration applications by Monday.

Medical students at all major universities, including Seoul National University, Yonsei University, Korea University, Sungkyunkwan University, Catholic University of Korea, University of Ulsan, Pusan National University, and Chungnam National University, have already decided to return to classes.

The Ministry of Education said it will collect data on the number of medical students returning before finalising the enrolment quota for next year's admission.

Ministry and school officials speculate that judging from the current return rate, the number of medical school admissions will likely be reduced to 3,058 next year. If students again take a leave of absence or boycott classes after returning, however, the enrolment quota could be returned to 5,058, they said.