The Korean Association of Medical College Professors emphasized Wednesday that medical education quality "must be verified through actual operational feasibility, not just meeting statutory standards," as the government announced plans to increase medical school enrollment by an annual average of 668 students over five years starting from the 2027 academic year.
Association Chairman Cho Yun-jung, a professor of laboratory medicine at Korea University Anam Hospital, made the remarks at a press conference held at Korea University Law School in Seongbuk-gu, Seoul. "The statutory standards presented by the government are merely minimum conditions for education to be possible," Cho said.
The Ministry of Health and Welfare held a Health and Medical Policy Deliberation Committee meeting on the 10th and decided to gradually increase enrollment at 32 medical schools outside Seoul from 2027 to 2031. One of the committee's five criteria for determining physician workforce size was "ensuring quality of medical education."
"Today's meeting is not about debating enrollment numbers," Cho said. "We arranged this to explain what ensuring quality of medical education actually means and what should be verified, and how, before the government discusses and decides on enrollment."
According to Cho, an estimated 1,586 medical students from the 2024 and 2025 classes are currently on leave, with a conservative estimate of 749 expected to return in 2027. She argued that even without additional enrollment increases, the number of students requiring education would exceed the current level by 123, conflicting with the "maximum limit" discussed at the committee meeting.
"We did not present these figures to claim we are right," Cho said. "If the government releases the raw data, we are prepared to recalculate in a verifiable manner as soon as tomorrow."
She pointed out that ensuring education quality—one of the committee's deliberation principles—"depends on identifying who the actual students are and assessing the teaching capacity of instructors." She added that authorities must also examine whether lecture and practicum operation plans exist and whether capacity for patient-contact education and training is secured.
"If these four conditions are not confirmed, it is difficult to use 'ensuring education quality' as a policy basis," Cho said. "Enrollment is a long-term variable. If the government makes education quality a deliberation principle, it must first release year-by-year scenario verification data."
She added that "the association does not oppose enrollment discussions themselves," but urged that "if education quality is the policy basis, then that quality must be verified in a measurable way. The government must release the raw projection data and conduct policy scenario verification for 2027-2031 first."