Korea to allow merging pre-med, main medical courses to break barriers

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The South Korean government will allow medical schools to merge two-year pre-medicine and four-year main medical course curricula as early as next year, allow universities to abolish departments and faculties to introduce multidisciplinary studies, free majors, or select students regardless of majors to help break down barriers within universities so they can innovate to meet the needs of students and the industry.

Online degree programs will also be expanded to include all majors.

The Ministry of Education issued a legislative notice on partial amendment to the enforcement decree of the higher education act on Wednesday. Under the amendment, medical schools will be given the autonomy to set their curricula in academic rules and freely organize their curriculum within a six-year school year. Originally, the school year for medical universities was divided into two years for pre-med and four years for main medical courses, including regular medicine, oriental medicine, dentistry, and veterinary medicine, under Article 25, Section 1 of the enforcement decree of the higher education act.

It has been pointed out such a system lacks linkage between the curricula of preliminary and main courses and that the four-year main course has been overcrowded. With the revision of the enforcement decree, a number of medical schools are expected to abolish or reduce pre-med courses. Medical students will be able to participate in major classes and clinicals for a longer period of time compared with the previous four years, benefiting from more in-depth training.

“It has been a practice to teach basic medicine to pre-med students within the college of natural sciences, but it is often pointed out that student learning is not well managed,” said Park Jun-sung, head of college regulation and innovation division at the Education Ministry. “Additionally, medical schools have been demanding it for a long time as times have changed and more focus is given to clinicals that are difficult to be completed in four years.”

The boundaries between departments and faculties will also be eliminated. The amendment removes Article 9, Section 2, which stipulates that universities shall, in principle, have departments or faculties. Universities, as a result, will be given the liberty to organize their schools in various ways, including merging existing departments and faculties, establishing multidisciplinary departments and majors, allowing free majors, and selecting students regardless of majors.

“Major programs are strictly demand-driven in the U.S., whereas Korea has a supplier-driven structure with majors centered on faculties and departments,” Park said. “Adoption of the amendment is expected to create demand-driven majors and facilitate collaboration between faculty members through multidisciplinary courses.”

Students, in the meantime, will be given greater options for majors. First-year students have been prohibited from transferring majors, and students in their second year and above were restricted from transferring to new majors such as advanced and convergence majors. However, major transfers and transfers to new majors will be allowed for freshmen who want to change their career path to complete their desired major. Universities will also be allowed to offer online degree courses. Although universities have acquired a great deal of experience of online teaching since the pandemic, online degree programs need prior approval from the Ministry of Education and are limited to high-tech and new technology studies or joint courses with foreign universities.

In response, the Education Ministry will revise the ministry instruction on the operation of distance learning by universities in addition to the higher education act to allow online degree programs in all studies and abolish the requirement for prior approval from the Education Ministry.

Institutions, organizations, and individuals with opinions on the partial amendment to the enforcement decree of the higher education act may submit their comments via the website of the Korea Ministry of Government Legislation or by mail, fax or email by Aug. 8. The Education Ministry will finalize the amendment after collecting feedback during the legislative notice period and initiate the revision process.