Majority of medical schools short of teaching faculty after admissions quota hike
Published: 28 Apr. 2026, 18:03
![Pedestrians pass by near a medical school in Seoul on the March 13. [YONHAP]](https://koreaseafood.online/data/photo/2026/04/28/45319a8b-3e8c-4137-aeb3-3cdfa1c230a2.jpg)
Pedestrians pass by near a medical school in Seoul on the March 13. [YONHAP]
A majority of medical schools failed to hire enough teaching faculty following a large admissions quota hike for 2025, the state audit agency said Tuesday.
The Board of Audit and Inspection announced the results of an audit into what measures medical schools took to ensure quality education after their aggregate admission quotas rose by about 1,500 to 4,567 for the 2025 school year under a decision by the then-Yoon Suk Yeol administration.
Of the 30 medical schools given larger quotas, 18 fell short of their hiring plans as of February last year, with Soon Chun Hyang University in the central city of Cheonan topping the list with a shortage of 92 teachers.
Only 59 percent of newly added teaching positions were filled at 30 medical schools between March 2024 and February 2025, and the situation was worse at schools outside of the Seoul metropolitan area due in part to lower pay and less desirable living conditions in provincial areas.
The audit agency said government budgets were also allocated to medical schools solely based on increased quotas without taking the specific situation of each school into consideration.
Following the quota increase, the average number of students assigned per cadaver rose from 7.79 to 8.12, and three medical schools were projected to face a shortage of cadavers after their current holdings are depleted by 2030.
Yonhap
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.
Standards Board Policy (0/250자)