Don’t trade education quality for quantity

The government must ensure the reform direction upholds the integrity of medical services.

Medical school professors staged a rally near the presidential office in protest of the move to amend a pertinent law related to the Korea Institute of Medical Education and Evaluation (KIMEE), which could cripple the state institution’s role of guarding the standard of higher medical education for the purpose of serving the sudden increase in medical school enrollment. Under Article 11 of the Higher Education Act, medical schools in Korea are subject to be evaluated and accredited by the KIMEE, and only graduates from accredited schools can sit for the state exam for doctoral license.

Professors are protesting an amendment to annex a clause allowing a grace period of minimum one year should a medical school fail to fulfill its annual curriculum under extraordinary circumstances. The provision also enables changes in the guidelines for accreditation. Should the KIMEE be unable to make an assessment, prior accreditation for medical schools will be accepted as valid until a new evaluation, which is a serious threat to the institution’s function.

Earlier, KIMEE vowed to toughen evaluation standards for medical schools increasing their admissions starting next year under the designated quota. Graduates from uncertified medical schools cannot take the state exam — and if delinquency ensues, the schools will face a restriction in their admission quota. The government hastily changed the related law to protect its hard-fought quota increase for medical schools.

KIMEE’s toughening of evaluation standards could be misunderstood as challenging the government’s increase of medical school admissions quota, as the board is mostly composed of doctors. The chair of KIMEE repeatedly expressed opposition to the quota increase. The toughened accreditation system could be suspected of being used as a means to sabotage the government plan.

The integrity of education standards is at stake. Medical school admissions will be stretched by 49 percent from 3,058 to 4,567 from the 2025 school year. Many provincial schools are doubling their admissions’ quotas. In that case, classrooms, professors and lab conditions must expand to accommodate an increase, but many schools won’t be able to live up to the standards due to a lack of time and money.

The government says it will provide sufficient funding to keep up educational standards. But its legal amendments to destabilize the accreditation process and the accrediting authority can raise suspicions about the move being a forcible action to mask its policy failure.

Doctor-turned ruling party lawmaker Ahn Cheol-soo stressed that the purpose of medical reform becomes vain if public health and safety fall under the hands of doctors with questionable training and education. Enrollment enlargement is the right direction, but the end cannot be justified if it leads to the deterioration of medicine standards. The government must ensure the reform direction upholds the integrity of medical services.