Korean students aim to study medicine abroad.

As competition for admission to South Korea's top medical schools intensifies, many families hoping their children will become doctors are seeking alternative paths abroad.

Students taking the KMLE exam. Photo: KHPLEI

In South Korea, success is often synonymous with getting into prestigious universities, securing a high-paying job, and building a stable family. Koreans view medical school as the safest and most socially respected path to achieving these goals. The average income for doctors in South Korea in 2022 was $198,000, six times the average annual salary of the general workforce.

For a long time, parents have invested heavily in private education hoping their children will be admitted to prestigious universities. However, the number of places available at domestic medical schools is very small compared to the number of applicants (the average competition ratio this year is 1 in 6.6), leading many families to consider overseas training programs, especially in Hungary, Australia, the UK, and Japan.

The appeal of "studying medicine abroad" programs is soaring, especially in Seoul's affluent Gangnam district. Online parent communities are flooded with posts sharing how their children applied to overseas medical schools. Study abroad forums often compare South Korea's highly competitive admissions system with some overseas programs that accept students with lower high school academic achievements.

Along with the trend of studying medicine abroad, the number of medical graduates returning to practice in Korea has also increased sharply. According to the Korea Medical Professional Licensing and Examination Institute (KHPLEI), last year 282 people participated in the preliminary medical licensing exam for graduates from overseas medical schools.

This exam is a mandatory requirement for graduates of foreign medical schools recognized by the Korean government before they can take the Korean Medical Licensing Examination (KMLE), the final step to practicing medicine in South Korea. The increasing number of successful candidates will raise the proportion of doctors who graduated from foreign medical schools in the Korean medical workforce. Of the 269 candidates who passed the recent KMLE exam, 19.3% were graduates from overseas universities.

Graduates from Hungarian medical schools have the highest rate of obtaining medical licenses in South Korea, followed by those from Norway, Russia, the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom. To attract students, many Hungarian medical schools also hold counseling and recruitment programs in Seoul. Educational institutions predict that more than 200 South Korean students will enroll in medical schools in this Central European country this year, up from around 150 last year.

MINH DŨNG (According to Korea Herald, NHK)

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/sinh-vien-han-quoc-nham-toi-du-hoc-nganh-y--a205433.html