While the two Koreas seems to be giving a trucewho knows if something else, the southern neighbors live with anguish a problem that has been entrenched too long: in an increasingly aged country, becoming old is a condemnation of poverty. And the young? They are also indirect protagonists of this endemic evil: they have agreed to study the same.
Brain drain. In South Korea there is an unprecedented phenomenon: students even leave the most prestigious universities from the country (Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea University, known as the Sky Group) to pursue A career in Medicine. Only in 2024 they were recorded 2,481 dropouts In these three institutions, the highest figure in 18 years and 17% more than the previous year.
Most of the deserters They came from the natural sciences and the humanities, attracted by the expansion of access quotas to the faculties of Medicine, which passed 3,000 to 5,000 places Annual in a government attempt by alleviating the shortage of doctors in an increasingly aged society. Medicine, perceived as the most prestigious and profitable profession in the country, has become the preferred destination even for those who had reached the quoted places of the elite universities.
Pressure on medical schools. The change, however, is overflowing capacity of medical faculties, which already dragged structural problems. Overloaded teachers, massive strikes and classrooms They are now the norm, in a context where resources do not grow at the same rate as demand. At the same time, fundamental disciplines such as basic sciences and humanities They suffer from emptying that threatens the intellectual diversity of the country and erodes the long -term innovation potential.
Academics like Theodore Jun Yoo They warn that this trend mine educational balance and puts at risk the production of critical thinking and technological advancement, while The low birth rate It reduces the need for new teachers and researchers, weakening the national academic base.
The roots of the trend and the AI. The rise of this career towards medicine does not arise from nothing. Studies show that since 2022 more than A quarter Of the students with the best notes in the university admission exam, medicine to Sky universities have preferred, a sign that traditional disciplines have lost attractiveness as an option for the future.
For academics such as Robert Fouser, the proliferation of artificial intelligence and the perception that humanities and sciences already They do not guarantee stability work have accelerated the leak. Japan experiences A similar phenomenonwith young people who choose regional medical schools instead of specializations in social or humanistic sciences in Tokyo, which reflects a regional pattern of more armored careers in the face of technological disruption.
Mental of medicine. Paradoxically, some experts point out that this fever for medicine can Not being the panacea or the best bet In the long term. The profession itself is exposed to deep transformations derived from AI and demographic changes that are already affecting pediatrics, reduced by Birthday fall and the displacement of professionals towards more profitable specialties such as dermatology.
In other words, this suggests that, in the long term, engineering or technological development careers could Offer more resilience than an overcrowded medical profession.
Proposals to stop the crisis. Given this panorama, more and more critical voices ask the government to act quickly. It is raised Medical training more and force new graduates to work at least six years in rural areas, where the shortage of doctors is more pressing.
These measures are looking for stop the avalanche towards the faculties of Medicine and redistribute human resources more balanced. However, the situation reflects a substantive tension: social obsession with economic stability and prestige, in the face of the national need to preserve a diverse university system capable of sustaining innovation and technological leadership.
Educational crossroads. The “career towards medicine” in South Korea not only reveals social anxieties about the future work, but also exposes the limits of a model that privilege a single path to the detriment of other essentials for the integral development of the country.
The risk It seems clear: In the search for individual security, the collective capacity of producing new ideas, of forming critical thinkers and of guaranteeing a balance in professional training is undermined. If you also want, the final paradox is that, in its attempt to ensure more doctors, South Korea could be weakening precisely the bases that have allowed it to prosper as one of the more innovative economies of Asia.
Image | ITU PICTURES
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