Korea University (KU) has announced plans to decrease the set quota of undergraduate students. The Ministry of Education (MOE) publicized its “Appropriate Restructuring Plan” on September 15, stating that the wide-ranging plan sets its goal on “reducing the number of admissions, adjusting admission discrepancies between undergraduate and graduate schools, and reserving admission quotas,” as reported by its official website. The plan is to decrease more than 16,000 prospective college freshmen by 2025. 

Though exact details have not been released to the public, it is estimated that KU has submitted a substantively large number of an estimated decrease in admissions, judging by their receival of 742 million South Korean Won (KRW) of supportment funds — the fourth biggest allocation of funds directed to institutions in the capital area. Seoul-based universities included in the plan, six when including KU, are to reallocate their vacancies in undergraduates to graduate school admissions.

The MOE has consistently urged universities to voluntarily reduce the admission quota of undergraduate students. As the number of prospective college freshmen precipitously decreases due to South Korea's low birth rate crisis, universities not decreasing their set influx of undergraduates instigates a future of insufficient enrollment in the majority of institutions, particularly in colleges in places other than the Seoul Metropolitan Area.