Seoul National University's 'regional admission program,' aimed at reducing educational disparities between regions, has revealed that three out of five new students come from high schools in the capital area. Critics argue that the program's implementation, which relies on school recommendations rather than regional quotas, has exacerbated the concentration of students from the capital region.
According to data submitted by Seoul National University to lawmaker Seo Beom-soo of the People Power Party on October 16, 63.3% of this year's registrants in the regional admission program are from high schools in Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Incheon. This marks an 11.9 percentage point increase from 51.4% in 2021, highlighting a growing trend of capital area dominance contrary to the program's original intent.
The regional disparities are also evident in the numbers. While the number of registrants from Gyeonggi increased significantly from 634 to 1,010, those from non-capital regions saw a decline. For instance, registrants from Busan dropped from 146 to 123, Ulsan from 51 to 34, and Jeonbuk from 69 to 42.
This trend is reflected in the overall composition of new students at Seoul National University. This year, 68.1% (2,497 students) of all new students are from capital area high schools, up from 63.3% (2,085 students) in 2021. While the number of new students from the capital area increased by 412, those from non-capital regions decreased by 43.
Seoul National University has implemented the regional admission program since the 2005 academic year, initially allowing two recommendations per high school. This approach was expanded to include regular admissions starting in the 2023 academic year.
Despite a decrease in the total number of registrants from 718 in 2021 to 626 in 2026, the concentration of students from the capital area has become more entrenched.
Lawmaker Seo Beom-soo stated, "A program that is merely named 'regional admission' cannot rectify the capital area bias that has persisted for 20 years. We need to redesign the program to ensure that regional representation is a genuine selection criterion, including proportional student recommendations by region and increasing the weight of academic evaluations in regular admissions."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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