Medical, law programs to be graduate courses in 2003

The Ministry of Education has reaffirmed its intention to separate medical and law schools from undergraduate universities and transform them into graduate courses by the year 2003.

Recently, the Ministry of Education has sent notices to universities nationwide with medical and law schools informing them that the Ministry has set the year 2003 as the deadline for the implementation of the separation of the two fields as graduate courses. The notice further ordered the schools to continue with their admission policies for law and medical students until the year 2002 and announce admission guidelines for the year 2002.

Accordingly, the core universities which had pledged to integrate a wider pool policy for admission to undergraduate courses starting in 2002 as a condition for participating in Brain Korea 21 will likely offer separate admission policies for medical and law school students. Universities that separate the medical and law programs by turning them into graduate schools in 2003 will be required to abolish medical and law courses in their undergraduate schools.

A source in the Ministry of Education stated that the notices were issued because the exact date of adoption was previously undetermined, stopping the universities from announcing any admission guidelines for the year 2002. The Ministry of Education currently has plans to form a committee of experts in the law and medical fields that will formulate an acceptable educational policy by the end of March next year and will make a final decision concerning the exact date of adoption by the middle of next year.

Lee In-Chul inchul@donga.com