60% of new medical students at non-metropolitan universities are local recruits

Six in 10 incoming students at regional medical schools are from the surrounding area. The image above was generated using AI. [Created with ChatGPT]

Six in 10 incoming students at regional medical schools are from the surrounding area, though some universities — including Hallym University and Soonchunhyang University — failed to meet the mandatory local-recruit quota.

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday released results of mandatory local-talent admissions at regional universities for the 2026 academic year. The mandatory local-talent admissions regime has been in place since the 2023 academic year to expand opportunities for students to attend universities in their home regions. Under the system, medical, dental, traditional Korean medicine and pharmacy schools outside the Greater Seoul metropolitan area must fill at least 40 percent of their incoming class with local students from the same region, while schools in Gangwon Province and Jeju must meet a 20 percent threshold.

This marks the first time the ministry has publicly disclosed school-by-school results on local-talent admissions and compliance with mandatory ratios.

Enrollment of non-metropolitan students at regional medical schools has grown. Total enrollment across 26 regional medical schools stood at 2,079 for the 2026 academic year, of whom 1,234 — or 59.4 percent — were admitted as local talent, including 48 low-income local students. That is up 13.2 percentage points from the 46.2 percent recorded in the 2022 academic year, before the mandatory local-talent admissions regime took effect.

However, two of the 26 regional medical schools — Hallym University and Soonchunhyang University — failed to meet the legally required local-talent ratio. Hallym University in Gangwon Province admitted 13 local students out of 79 incoming students, a rate of 16.5 percent, falling short of the legal threshold of 20 percent, or 16 students.

Soonchunhyang University in the Chungcheong region admitted 45 local students out of 113 incoming students, a rate of 39.8 percent — one student short of the legal requirement of 40 percent, or 46 students.

Results of mandatory local-talent admissions at regional universities for the 2026 academic year show that six in 10 incoming students at regional medical schools are from the surrounding area. [Provided by the Ministry of Education; created with ChatGPT]

Four regional medical schools failed to meet the mandatory low-income local-talent quota: Yonsei University's Mirae Campus, Kosin University, Wonkwang University and Kyungpook National University. Yonsei University's Mirae Campus and Kosin University were each required to admit two low-income local students but enrolled none. Wonkwang University admitted one of its required two, and Kyungpook National University admitted one of its required three.

Outside medical schools, 14 of the 204 departments subject to mandatory local-talent admissions in dentistry, traditional Korean medicine, pharmacy, nursing and professional graduate programs failed to meet the legal standard. For the low-income local-talent requirement, 28 of the 193 eligible departments fell short of their mandatory quota.

Twelve of the 14 non-compliant departments for general local-talent admissions were nursing programs. Dongyang University's nursing department admitted only 6 local students out of 125 incoming students, a rate of 4.8 percent. Eulji University's nursing departments at its Seongnam campus and Uijeongbu campus recorded rates of 4.7 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively — all well below the legal requirement of 30 percent.

The Ministry of Education said some universities had not made sufficient efforts to comply, but also acknowledged that the system's structure — which measures compliance based on final enrollment figures rather than initial admissions offers — contributed to the shortfalls. Even when a university initially selects enough local-talent applicants to meet the legal ratio, the final count can fall below the threshold if admitted students decline enrollment or fail to meet the minimum College Scholastic Ability Test score requirement.

"Because this system measures compliance based on final enrollment rather than admissions plans, there is inherent uncertainty from year to year," a ministry official said. "We believe that enrollment withdrawals and failures to meet the minimum CSAT score requirement have made it difficult for some schools to fulfill their obligations."

The ministry said it will collect remediation plans from non-compliant universities and monitor their follow-through. However, the current Act on the Support for Local Universities contains no provisions imposing penalties or other disadvantages on schools that fail to meet the mandatory admissions ratio.

brunch@heraldcorp.com