Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City selected Suncheon National University as the candidate university for a national medical school to recommend to the government. The score gap with Mokpo National University was only 1.3 points. With the government review clearing the first hurdle for the Jeonnam region's 36-year demand to establish a national medical school, attention is turning to how it will unfold.
Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City said on the 30th that, based on the review of candidate universities for a national medical school conducted by the Jeonnam Institute, it selected Suncheon National University as the university to recommend to the government. Suncheon National University applied for a medical school enrollment quota of 100 students.
Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City had earlier sought to prepare a joint implementation plan by Mokpo National University and Suncheon National University, but the universities failed to reach agreement due to differences over the location of the medical school and other issues. In response, the Jeonnam Institute formed a review committee with outside experts to evaluate the two universities.
Eight experts in the medical and fiscal fields took part in the review. The review committee evaluated five items: ▲ system for promoting the establishment of a medical school ▲ plan to secure educational facilities ▲ plan to secure a teaching hospital ▲ plan to secure faculty ▲ roles and responsibilities of the medical school and the teaching hospital.
As a result of the review, Suncheon National University scored 89.15 points, and Mokpo National University scored 87.85 points. The score gap between the two universities was 1.30 points. In particular, Suncheon National University scored 1.17 points higher than Mokpo National University on the plan to secure medical school faculty.
This selection does not conclude the process of establishing a national medical school in the Jeonnam-Gwangju region.
The government had earlier requested Gyeongbuk Province and Jeonnam-Gwangju City to submit implementation plans for establishing national medical schools. In Gyeongbuk, Kyungpook National University submitted a plan to establish a medical school with an enrollment quota of 50, and in Jeonnam-Gwangju, Suncheon National University was selected as the candidate university.
The remaining issue is whether the government will establish a medical school in both Jeonnam-Gwangju and Gyeongbuk, or split a quota of 100 students between the two regions. Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City has applied to establish a medical school with a quota of 100 students for now.
Backlash from Mokpo National University and the Mokpo area is also a variable. Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City decided to prepare separate measures to support medical infrastructure for the Mokpo area, which was left out as a candidate university.
Min Hyung-bae, the mayor, said, "We will immediately draw up practical development measures for the university and region that were not selected," adding, "We will expand hospital-level medical infrastructure and boost the university's competitiveness to build a 'region-complete medical system' so that, wherever people live in the integrated special city, they can receive the treatment they need on time."
The Jeonnam region has demanded the establishment of a national medical school since 1990. Before integration, Jeonnam was the only metropolitan local government in the country without a college of medicine. In the Jeonnam area, there are 0.29 specialists in essential medical departments per 1,000 people, among the lowest nationwide, and many of the 22 cities and counties are classified as vulnerable areas for essential medical care such as emergency, childbirth, and pediatrics.
The Ministry of Education plans to make a final decision on whether to establish a national medical school and on the enrollment quota after reviewing the implementation plan submitted by Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City.