By Bae Ji-sook
Staff Reporter
Presidents of 14 universities Thursday threatened not to accept any applications for law school unless the government increases the enrollment quota from 1,500 to 2,500.
But the deputy prime minister and education minister said there will be no change to the plan.
In a press conference Wednesday in Seoul, deans of the universities urged the minister to resign for refusing to increase the quota.
Among the 14 universities are Seoul National University, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Kookmin University and Sogang University.
Lawyers and judges want to limit the quota but universities want an increased quota as they have already invested large amounts of money in building facilities and hiring professors.
Deans of the law schools said the quota will allow only 10-15 universities to operate their schools, with each university permitted to admit up to 150 students.
More than 40 universities here want to open law schools in addition to their existing undergraduate course of law studies.
However, the Korean Bar Associations welcomed the quota. A spokesman said the government has ``finally found a compromise between the demands of lawyers and the side-effects of enlarging the quota drastically.'' Another lawyer said 1,500 could be a good number to provide every student with a quality education. He said too large a number would have a negative effect on the judicial sector.
The figure 1,500 was based on the numbers who pass the annual bar examination and possible law school dropout rate. The government is seeking to make the number of lawyers per person equivalent to the average of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development by 2020.
Korea has one lawyer for every 5,700 people while the OECD average is one per 1,482.
bjs@koreatimes.co.kr
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