SEOUL – A court in Seoul has dismissed a request for an injunction by medical students aimed at preventing their universities’ presidents from increasing admission quotas, a decision made amid ongoing protests by trainee doctors.
According to Yonhap News Agency, the injunction, which was filed by 485 medical students against the heads of three state-funded universities and an association of college education, was not granted. The students argued that the proposed increase in medical school seats could degrade the quality of education sufficiently to violate their constitutionally protected right to learn. The court directed that such a case should instead be brought before the Seoul Administrative Court, which deals with issues related to the exercise of public power. This is part of broader legal actions taken by the medical community in response to the government’s plan to add 2,000 medical school seats nationwide. Despite initial plans to increase enrollment significantly, national universities in provincial areas have now opted to reduce these government-allocated seats by up to 50 percent. Updates to the admission plans for the 2025 academic year are currently underway, with announcements expected by late May.