December 11, 2025
SEOUL – Seoul’s education chief has proposed scrapping the College Scholastic Ability Test, or Suneung, by 2040 and overhauling Korea’s entire university admissions framework, arguing that the current test-centered system no longer meets the country’s demographic and educational challenges.
“Excessive score-based competition, the burden of private education costs and an admissions-driven, ranking-oriented school system can no longer guarantee our children’s future,” Seoul Metropolitan Education Office Superintendent Jung Geun-sik said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“To revitalize high school classrooms and ensure the successful implementation of the high school credit system, the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education has prepared a set of admissions reforms, including changes to the school grading system,” he added.
Jung stressed that education cannot be separated from broader social challenges such as regional disparities and the declining birth rate, arguing that college admissions reform is essential to align education policy with national priorities.
“We must overcome the divide between primary-to-secondary education and higher education,” he said. “Innovation in earlier schooling is often blocked at the university level because college admissions systems do not change.”
Short-term remedies
The three-stage comprehensive plan begins with students entering university in 2028, who will go through the admissions process in 2027.
Jung proposed shifting the current relative grading system used for career- and convergence-track elective courses to an absolute grading system.
Under the high school credit system launched in 2025, students can select courses aligned with their interests — but Jung argued that relative grading forces them to choose classes based on scoring advantages rather than academic curiosity and career alignment. Absolute grading, he said, would free students to choose courses that genuinely reflect their goals.
He also called for abolishing a 2022 Ministry of Education decree recommending that Seoul-area universities admit 30 to 40 percent of new students based on Suneung scores.
In addition, Jung urged the expansion of Regional Balance Admissions, which prioritizes students from outside the capital region, while limiting early-admission eligibility for students attending autonomous private high schools, foreign-language high schools, international schools, science high schools and schools for the gifted.
Jung said he hopes these short-term plans would substitute for the Ministry of Education’s plans for 2028 admissions, released in 2023.
The initial plans, which Jung called “an initiative that veers off course” called for the Suneung to be pared down to four subjects.
Vision for 2033
For students entering university in 2033, Jung proposed extending absolute grading to all high school subjects and Suneung sections, while introducing more short-answer and essay-style questions.
He also recommended integrating Korea’s early and regular admissions into a single system, accompanied by curriculum revisions that would allow high schools to run more flexible, career-linked semesters for seniors in their final semester.
Admissions would shift broadly to student record-based evaluations, which the office says would normalize high school education by encouraging growth over cramming for tests.
Under this structure, the Suneung would become a supplementary factor, graded on a five-tier absolute scale instead of the current nine-tier relative scale. The revised exam would run in a trial mock exam format in 2032 for high school juniors.
Schools would also phase in more short-answer and essay questions on school exams, beginning at 25 percent of test items in 2026 and rising to 50 percent by 2030, when current fifth graders enter high school.
To ensure fairness and objectivity, Jung said the office is developing an artificial intelligence-based grading system, which would score responses first, followed by verification from teachers. The AI will be programmed using test questions and class materials.
Jung also proposed introducing regional admissions tracks for universities outside Seoul, in line with the national agenda to build “10 Seoul National University-level institutions” across the country. These tracks would allow regional flagship universities to prioritize students with competencies aligned with their missions.
Considering the preparation required — new grading standards, expanded essay assessments and curriculum revisions — the office recommended the 2033 admissions cycle as the first point of full implementation.
End goals
Jung’s long-term plan culminates in sweeping reforms by 2040, including the abolition of the Suneung and the phasing out of autonomous private high schools.
He noted that the number of high school-aged students is expected to fall to half of today’s level by 2040, undermining the rationale for an exam-based selection system. Instead, the office proposes admissions grounded in a holistic record of student growth throughout high school.
While preserving university autonomy to select students based on the national curriculum, Jung said schools could additionally use question-bank-based interdisciplinary interviews or essay-style assessments as needed.
To mitigate disparities between school types under a full shift to absolute grading, the office also proposed converting autonomous private, foreign language and international high schools into general high schools that offer specialized curricula.
Many autonomous private schools currently enroll 35 students per class, a figure set at their creation. Jung said these quotas should be gradually reduced to the level of regular high schools as part of a broader effort to “share the burden of a declining student population.”
Implementation still uncertain
Jung emphasized that the proposed three-stage “future-oriented” system must be accompanied by genuine innovation in high school education.
“Students who grow through essay- and discourse-based absolute grading in the classroom should be able to transition naturally into admissions processes that use similar assessments,” he said.
To ensure fairness and credibility, the office launched a Curriculum and Assessment Support Center this year, and Jung said equivalents should be established nationwide.
However, he acknowledged that the National Education Commission holds the final authority.
“We are not the decision-making body,” Jung said. “But it is the superintendent’s duty to listen to voices in the education field and to propose new initiatives.”
He said the plan will be submitted to the NEC, adding that informal discussions have already taken place. He expects a final decision by February 2026, following consultations with the Education Ministry and other stakeholders.
Jung said the proposal was drafted after nearly a year of discussions with educators, researchers and admissions officers.
“I hope our vision undergoes a thorough national debate and is realized as soon as possible,” he said.