17 Universities Disclosed Competition Rates Before the Deadline Extension Amid the 'Early Admission Application System Outage'... Ministry of Education Considers Canceling Suspicious Applications

[Financial News] The Ministry of Education will separately review cases of applications submitted during the extended period at 17 universities that disclosed competition rates before the deadline was extended during the system outage affecting early admission applications for the 2027 academic year.
If cases suspected of exploiting the disclosure of competition rates are identified, measures such as canceling the applications will also be considered in consultation with the universities. For applicants who were unable to submit their applications because of the outage, the Ministry plans to determine eligibility for relief based on objective electronic data, including error logs and application histories.
The Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education (KCUE) announced this position at around 11 p.m. on the 15th regarding relief for applicants affected by the early admission application system outage and verification of improper applications.
According to the Ministry of Education, among the universities that extended their application deadlines because of the system outage, 17 had disclosed their competition rates as of 6 p.m. that day. The review follows concerns about fairness, as applicants could submit applications after the original 6 p.m. deadline while using the already disclosed competition rates to decide where to apply.
The Ministry of Education and KCUE are separately checking and reviewing applications submitted to these universities during the extended period after the competition rates were disclosed. If suspicious cases are identified, they will consult with the relevant universities and consider measures such as canceling the applications.
Relief for affected applicants will be provided based on objective electronic records. An error log from 5:50 p.m. on the 11th, when the system outage occurred, must remain, and there must be a confirmed record of filling out, saving, submitting, or attempting to pay for an application to the university for which relief is requested. If multiple application records exist, only the last completed or modified record will be recognized. Applicants with no electronic record of processing an application during the outage period will be excluded from relief.
According to Uway Apply, the eligible applicants are those who applied to the 56 universities whose applications were processed through Uway Apply and whose original deadline was 6 p.m. on the 11th. Applications for relief must be submitted by 6 p.m. on the 16th, and applicants confirmed as eligible for relief may complete their applications by 10 p.m. that day.
The number of applicants who ultimately failed to submit their applications despite the deadline extension caused by the outage was estimated at approximately 1,200.
Earlier, at around 5:50 p.m. on the 11th, an access outage occurred in the Uway Apply application system. This was 10 minutes before the original 6 p.m. deadline for early admission applications. After the outage, KCUE extended the application deadlines until 7 p.m.—one hour later—for universities using Uway Apply and Jinhakapply.
The Ministry of Education and KCUE stated, "We will examine the exact cause of this incident, the initial response process, and the overall system operation and management framework to establish measures to prevent a recurrence."

[email protected] Lee Bo-mi Reporter