Yoon's med school quota hike plan raises fears regarding brain drain from sciences

Medical professionals walk in a major hospital in Seoul, Thursday. Yonhap

The Yoon Suk Yeol administration's plan to raise the number of medical students is stoking fears that an increasing number of top students may turn away from science and engineering-based courses and instead flock to medical schools.

This concern has been made more probable due to the Yoon government's historic 15 percent cut to the nation's research and development (R&D) budget for this year, which researchers say is causing various setbacks in the science and technology sectors, such as job instability and disruptions to studies.

At the end of last year, the contentious decision to reduce the 2024 national R&D budget by 4.6 trillion won ($3.5 billion) passed the National Assembly. The reduction marked the first R&D budget cut in 33 years.

Like in many other countries, being a doctor guarantees a high income with no particular retirement age and is associated with honor and respect. Because of these advantages, many top students have been already aiming to be admitted to medical schools.

The popularity of medical schools is expected to grow further, as the government decided to add 2,000 slots to the admission quota annually, starting next year.

This decision will increase the admission quota for the country's 40 medical schools to 5,058. This accounts for about 93 percent of the quota for natural sciences departments of Seoul National University, Yonsei University and Korea University, which was set at 5,443 as of this year.

The additional 2,000 seats surpass the number of new students admitted this year to four institutes of science and technology, including the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, which amounted to around 1,700.

Textbooks are placed on a desk at a classroom in a medical school in Daegu, Wednesday. Yonhap

The increased placements at medical schools are expected to encourage students with higher grades to apply to medical schools rather than to science and engineering programs. This is because the chances of being admitted and becoming a doctor are getting higher, according to officials at private cram schools who analyze university entrance trends every year.

"Expanding the medical school quota by 2,000 may encourage many students to think that it's worth trying, at a time when a doctor has been regarded as one of the most honorable professions," an official from Jongro Academy, one of Korea's major college preps, said.

"We expect twice as many as students, whose grades are enough to be admitted to departments of science and engineering of top universities, to change their course and apply for medical schools."

A number of people currently majoring in different subjects at universities or working in other fields are also expected to take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT) again to get into medical schools.

CSAT is the national college entrance exam that takes place every November in Korea.

The official noted that the growing popularity of medical schools will end up lowering the passing mark of other departments at major universities, including science and engineering.

A professor of space engineering at a university in Seoul said that many top students have already opted to study medicine rather than science and engineering to become doctors.

"The government needs to draw up policies to prevent top students from excessively flocking to medical schools, such as a measure to guarantee their career path," he said.