Elite University Departures
Over Ten Thousand Students Leave South Korea's Top Universities in Five Years
Anonymous
More than 10,700 students left South Korea’s three prestigious “SKY” universities—Seoul National, Yonsei and Korea University—from 2021 to 2025, with departures topping 2,000 annually for four straight years before declining in 2025. Korea University had the most departures last year, followed by Yonsei and Seoul National. Nearly two-thirds of those who left in 2025 were natural sciences students, and admissions analysts say many may have retaken entrance exams to pursue medical school, though the available data do not track students’ reasons for leaving or where they went.
Key Points
1
South Korea began disclosing dropout figures in 2007, when the three universities recorded 889 departures; the total stayed below 2,000 until it first exceeded that threshold in 2022.
2
The 2024 peak coincided with an expansion of medical-school admissions by about 1,500 places for the 2025 academic year; admissions returned to 3,058 places for 2026.
3
Jongno Academy chief Lim Sung-ho said local medical-school admissions initiatives planned for 2027 could lead some students at the SKY universities to leave and retake exams for local medical schools.
4
The departure figures include not only students who formally withdrew but also those who did not register or return after taking leave.
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