Only 3 applicants viewed competition ratios before applying amid system outage, Education Ministry says

Three applicants have been found to have checked publicly disclosed competition ratios before submitting their university applications during an extended deadline caused by a system outage, the Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education said. The two bodies said they recommended the relevant universities cancel those three applications, citing serious concerns about fairness and equity among applicants in the college admissions process.

The Ministry of Education and the council announced Thursday the results of their review into the system failure affecting Uwayapply's early admissions application platform. Of 1,588 relief requests filed by applicants affected by the outage, 354 were confirmed as successfully completed applications.

The outage occurred at around 5:50 p.m. on Friday, the deadline day for early admissions applications. As some universities disclosed their competition ratios during the extended application period, a fairness dispute arose between students who had already submitted their applications and those who applied only after viewing the disclosed ratios.

The investigation found that 100 universities had extended their application deadlines to 7 p.m. Of those, 17 disclosed their competition ratios during the extended window between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. The ministry and the council analyzed 39 applications submitted after those universities released their ratios.

Of the 39 applications, three were confirmed to have been submitted after the applicant had viewed the disclosed competition ratio for that university. The ministry and the council said they had determined those cases posed a risk to the fairness of the admissions process and had recommended the relevant universities cancel the applications. They noted, however, that no final cancellation decision had yet been made by the universities.

The remediation process for applicants affected by the system failure has also been completed. Of the 1,588 total relief requests, 414 were recognized as eligible for remediation, and 354 of those applicants ultimately completed their applications, confirming their relief.

Eligibility for remediation was determined by whether the system's error logs from around 5:50 p.m. on Friday and the applicant's submission history — including attempts to fill out, save, submit and pay for an application for the relevant program — could be objectively verified. Officials said the principle applied was to grant relief based on electronic records while excluding cases involving unfair conduct.

Of the 116 universities originally scheduled to close applications at 6 p.m. on Friday, 16 did not extend their deadlines. The ministry said remediation for applicants to those universities was unavoidable, as those students had not been given a separate opportunity to submit their applications.

The 354 remediated applications were distributed across 306 recruitment units and admission tracks at 40 universities. By institution, Kyungpook National University had the most with 72 cases, followed by Kyung Hee University with 51, Chung-Ang University with 48, Chonnam National University with 27, Kookmin University with 26, Inha University with 18, Seoul National University of Science and Technology with 15, Sangmyung University with 12 and Jeju National University with 11. Kyungpook National University, Howon University and Chongshin University were among the institutions that had not extended their deadlines, with 72, four and three applications remediated, respectively.

Following the completion of the remediation process, the average competition ratio at the 40 affected universities shifted from 9.634-to-1 to 9.635-to-1. The total number of applications across all universities rose by 354, from 2,554,259 to 2,554,613.

The ministry said there was no concentration of remediated applicants in any particular recruitment unit or admission track. Nine recruitment units had three or more remediated applicants, and the average competition ratio for those units was 71.25-to-1.

The ministry and the council have formed a special investigation team conducting an on-site probe of Uwayapply, examining the precise cause of the failure, how it was handled, and the overall system operation and management framework. The ministry said it plans to pursue necessary measures based on a review of relevant laws and contractual obligations once the problems are identified.

In addition, the ministry said it will improve the stability and oversight of the application system to prevent similar incidents from the 2027 regular admissions cycle onward. It is also reviewing a shift away from the current private-agency-centered model toward a publicly operated application system.

Education Minister Choi Kyo-jin said the ministry had acted with fairness and equity as its top priorities — providing relief to affected applicants based on objective facts and electronic records while ensuring that students who had submitted their applications normally would not be disadvantaged. "We will develop fundamental improvements to enhance the overall stability and reliability of the application system," Choi said.