University spots left open as Korea’s young population diminishes

Attendees looks into their guidebook for the 2024 college regular admission during an admissions presentation held in Dongjak District, southern Seoul, on Dec. 11, 2023. [NEWS1]

Even universities in Seoul, typically favored by college applicants, struggled to meet their regular admission quotas this year due to a sharp decline in the school-age population.

A total of 31 universities in Seoul had empty spots, which is a rare sight in Korea as many Korean applicants prefer to attend schools situated in Seoul, often called “in-Seoul universities.”

Seokyeong University in Seongbuk District, northern Seoul, opened an additional application period to recruit 111 new students, having the biggest recruitment among colleges in Seoul.

Sejong University in Gwangjin District, eastern Seoul, also began to receive additional applications with 53 open spots.

Hansung University and Kookmin University, both in the Seongbuk District, northern Seoul, opened additional recruitment for 34 and 29 new students this year, respectively.

Some of Korea's top schools also had a significant number of students rejecting the school’s initial offer.

Hongik University had 31 spots left empty, alongside Chung-Ang University with 19 spots, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies with 18 spots and Hanyang University with 17 spots.

A total of 169 universities failed to fill their regular admission quota, leaving 13,148 spots unfilled as of last Wednesday, according to Jongro Academy, a cram school that helps students prepare for Korea's College Scholastic Abilities Test (CSAT).

Regional universities across the country accounted for 61 percent of the schools that failed to fill their freshmen quota.

By student number, regional universities accounted for 88.2 percent of nationwide freshman vacancies with 11,596 empty spots.

A total of nine universities in North Gyeongsang failed to recruit 1,653 freshmen, alongside 13 universities in Busan with 1,569 spots left untaken.

In Gwangju, nine universities had a total of 1,470 empty spots, and 35 universities in the Gyeonggi and Incheon regions were unable to fill 935 spots.

According to insiders in college admissions, these vacancies are due to a decline in the student population in Korea and a strong preference for medical schools.

Universities outside of Seoul went under a restructuring process such as cutting back 1,815 and 150 open spots for freshmen, respectively, due to the situation.

This year’s additional admission quota scale also cut back 4,291 spots nationwide compared to last year.

A total of 4,142 university spots were cut, including a reduction of 3,984 spots in regional areas and 158 spots in Gyeonggi and Incheon regions.

“Such cutbacks took place as universities in provincial areas adjusted their admission quota following the decline in student population,” Jongro Academy said.

BY SEO JI-WON, KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]