Seoul: A total of 96.9 percent of students at 40 medical schools across the country have decided to return to class after a government-imposed deadline for reinstatement expired earlier this week, the education ministry said Tuesday.
According to Yonhap News Agency, with the exception of Inje University, where only 24.2 percent of students applied to return, more than 90 percent of students at 39 other medical schools had completed their registrations to return as of Monday, the ministry said in a release. Of the 40 medical schools, 35 saw all of their students applying to return, it added.
"The government believes the normalization of medical school education has begun with the return of medical students," the ministry said, adding it will hold talks with relevant organizations to discuss enrollment quota.
The March 31 deadline was set by the government early this month, when it announced a conditional decision to set the medical school enrollment quota for 2026 at 3,058, which is equivalent to the figure before the government put forward a plan to increase admissions by 2,000 a year ago to address a chronic shortage of doctors.
The government said the revised quota will be contingent on the return of all medical students who have been boycotting classes and taking collective leaves of absence in protest of the expansion of the medical school quota.