Government Roadblock: National Assembly’s Bid to Boost Medical School Numbers Hits a Snag

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The Korea Institute of Medical Education Evaluation, which evaluates the level of education in medical schools on behalf of the government, announced that it will strengthen the evaluation of medical schools with an increasing number of students next year.

The argument is that the quality of education and the level of doctors should not decline due to increased staffing, but the government, dissatisfied with this, eventually began working to weaken the function of the National Assembly.

This was reported by journalist Park Jin-jun.

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The “Korea Institute of Medical Education Evaluation” evaluates and certifies the curriculum and environment of medical schools.

If you do not receive certification from the National Institute of Medicine, new students will not be allowed to take the national medical exam and new students will not be eligible for future recruitment.

Last July, the National Assembly announced it would conduct an “assessment of major changes,” including measures to expand facilities and faculty, for 30 medical schools whose enrollments would increase by more than 10 percent next year.

Stating: “There are concerns about the deterioration of educational conditions,” the evaluation criteria will be significantly increased from 15 to 49, and the evaluation will be conducted annually for six years starting next year.

However, the government believes that the National Assembly’s evaluation plan would constitute an obstacle to “increasing the number of medical schools” and has called for a reduction in evaluation items.

Finally, the Ministry of Education announced the modification of the “Regulations on the evaluation and certification of higher education institutions”, drastically reducing the effective influence of the National Assembly.

In case of a gap in the assessment and certification accreditation body, i.e. the National Assembly, the validity period of the existing assessment and certification may be extended and a special case is established providing for an additional period exceeding one year even in case of lack of certification.

When the National Assembly changes assessment and certification standards, existing rules that required notification within one week were changed to a “notice system” that requires confirmation and notification to universities at least one year in advance.

The Ministry of Education said: “The review was carried out only to prevent universities and students from suffering serious harm due to failure to assess and certify in the absence of an accredited institution.”

However, the medical community opposes this, saying that this poses a threat that the National Assembly could revoke its designation as an accredited institution at any time and that it is essentially an attempt to paralyze the functioning of the National Assembly.

[채동영/대한의사협회 부대변인]

“Despite the fact that the quality of medical education is set to decline, delaying the evaluation and maintaining the current certification status regardless of whether the evaluation is conducted or not means that we will reform medical care even if it ultimately lowers the quality of medical education.”

In the Public Participation Legislation Center of the Ministry of Government Legislation, where this amendment was announced, there are a number of opposing opinions, according to which “the independence of the National Assembly must be guaranteed.” effective in November, when the legislative notice period ends.

This is MBC News’ Jinjun Park.

Video editing: Woo Jin

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