Photo : YONHAP News
Amid an ongoing dispute over healthcare reforms, the average student registration rate among the nation’s 40 medical schools has fallen below four percent in the fall semester this year.
According to data from the education ministry, 653 out of 19-thousand-374 students had paid their tuition fees for the fall semester, as of September 2. That’s just three-point-four percent of the total number of students enrolled at the 40 medical schools in the country.
By school type, the average registration rate at national universities stood at three-point-two percent, while that for private universities was a bit higher at three-point-four percent.
The highest registration rate of 20 percent was reported at a private university, followed by eleven-point-eight percent at a national university.
While the rest reported single-digit rates, two national universities and seven private universities had no registration for the fall semester.
The low registrations come despite the ministry’s flexible guidelines aimed at preventing students from failing semesters amid their collective action against the government’s plan to increase the medical school admissions quota.