Seoul court denies students' injunction to block med school quota increase

The injunction request was filed on April 22 by medical students at Kangwon National University, Jeju National University and Chungbuk National University against the presidents of their universities and the Korean Council for University Education.

Two medical students, left, and their lawyer Lee Byeong-chul, right, file an injunction against the presidents of three national universities and the Korean Council for University Education at the Seoul Central District Court in Seocho District, southern Seoul, on April 22. [YONHAP]

The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday denied a temporary injunction filed by students seeking to block their universities from increasing medical school admissions.

The injunction request was filed on April 22 by medical students at Kangwon National University, Jeju National University and Chungbuk National University against the presidents of their universities and the Korean Council for University Education.

The petition, which was signed by 485 students, argued that an increase in their medical schools’ admissions quotas could undermine the quality of their education, thus violating their enrollment contracts.

The Seoul Central District Court ruled that the petitioners’ injunction should be handled by the Seoul Administrative Court.

Earlier Tuesday, officials from the Education Ministry and several universities said nationwide annual medical school admissions are expected to increase by up to 1,600 spots next year after most schools finalized their enrollment quotas for 2025.

Although the government allowed medical schools outside Seoul to add a total of 2,000 more spots as part of its plan to recruit more doctors, most national universities decided to expand annual medical admissions by only about half of their allotted permissible increase.

However, most private universities outside the capital have decided to increase their intake by the maximum they are allowed.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]