The Ministry of Education said on the 24th that there will be no separate remedies for medical students who filed for a leave of absence this year and have not returned, resulting in their expulsion.
Kim Hong-soon, the Director General of Medical Education Support at the Ministry of Education, noted during a regular briefing held at the Government Sejong Center that “the government has stated several times that students were expected to receive flexible academic policies or leave approvals,” and added, “It will be difficult to implement large-scale academic flexibility this year.”
He also responded to a question regarding whether there are any government-level remedies for students who receive expulsion notices for non-registration by saying, “We are not preparing any separate remedies,” and emphasized, “As I have mentioned several times, all academic matters, including expulsion, will follow the academic regulations.”
In response to a question about what the criteria for non-registration expulsion might be given that each university has different registration standards, the Director General said, “Students must express their intention to return,” and noted, “Most universities consider that a student has the intention to return only after application for readmission following the expiration of the leave of absence.” This means that just paying tuition does not imply the intention to return.
He stated that regarding some medical schools considering general transfer or readmission as a response to the expulsion situation, “Each university will (autonomously) follow its regulations.”
The Director General said concerning the return rate of Yonsei University medical students who completed their readmission applications by the 21st that “most reports stating that more than half returned are correct.” On the same day, reports emerged that Yonsei University’s medical school plans to send “non-registration expulsion notices” to 398 students (45%) out of 881 students who did not register for the first semester, which he acknowledged.
The Ministry of Education plans to monitor the return trends of medical students until the end of March. The Director General said, “The criteria for total return will be determined by the university to be at a reasonable level that allows for classes,” and added, “We plan to aggregate and evaluate the return rates of all medical schools as of the 31st.”