Over 1,200 Applicants Unable to Complete Early Admission Due to System Failure...Relief Measures Begin on the 14th (Comprehensive)

Ministry of Education and KCU to Implement Joint Relief Measures
Individual Application Allowed for Applicants Who Could Not Complete Submission

Due to a system failure in the 2027 academic year early admission application system, up to approximately 1,200 applicants were unable to complete their applications. The Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education (KCU) will begin providing individual remedies, starting from September 14, for applicants whose inability to apply due to the system failure has been confirmed through digital records.

On September 13, the Ministry of Education and the KCU announced that they would implement relief measures for applicants who could not complete the application due to a system failure at the application agency UwayApply on September 11.

Out of roughly 2.61 million early admission applications for the 2027 academic year, the number of applicants estimated to have been unable to complete the process due to the system failure is up to 1,200.

On the 23rd, examinees and parents participating in the "2027 University Admissions Information Fair" held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul are receiving admission consultations. 2026.7.23 Photo by Jin-Hyung Kang

The system failure occurred for about 30 minutes on September 11, the application deadline, from 5:50 p.m. to about 6:20 p.m. Some applicants experienced errors while saving their applications or paying the examination fee right before the deadline. As a result, the original 6:00 p.m. application deadline was extended by one hour to 7:00 p.m. However, cases were confirmed where applicants were unable to finish their applications due to reasons such as not being aware of the extended deadline.

The Ministry of Education and the KCU will implement relief measures for the following: (i) applicants who were unable to complete the application to their intended university due to the system failure; and (ii) those who, due to being unable to apply to their original choice, ended up applying to a different university, as can be confirmed by the related records.

Whether a candidate qualifies for relief will be determined by verifying the correlation between electronic records—such as attempts to write, save, submit an application, or pay examination fees—and the time of the system failure.

Ministry of Education

If there is no record of proceeding with any part of the application process (writing, saving, submitting, or attempt to pay the examination fee) during the failure period, the candidate will not be eligible for relief.

For example, an applicant who logged in during the UwayApply system failure period and for whom records show activity on application writing, saving, and finalizing application data such as program and unit, will be eligible for relief. Likewise, if an applicant was unable to apply through UwayApply and instead applied to a different university via the agency JinhakApply by 6:00 p.m. on September 11, this may also qualify. Additionally, cases where examination fee payment was attempted, but the submission was not completed due to the system failure, will be included.

It will not be permitted to change the originally selected academic program during the relief process. To ensure fairness to those who completed applications during the regular period, submissions will only be allowed for academic programs that can be verified in the existing records.

Relief applications can be made from 9:00 a.m. on September 14 through 6:00 p.m. on September 16 on a relief application message board to be set up on the UwayApply website. UwayApply and the universities will check the digital records of applicants and will provide individual instructions to those who are eligible. Applicants recognized as eligible for relief may submit their applications to the relevant university by 10:00 p.m. on September 16.

An additional investigation will be conducted into the fairness issues raised during the extension of the application deadline.

On the 23rd, prospective students and their parents attending the "2027 Academic Year Early Admission University Information Fair" held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, are receiving admission consultations. 2026.7.23 Photo by Kang Jin-hyung

Some universities released competition ratios before and after the original application deadline, but due to the system failure, the application period was extended to 7:00 p.m. As a result, there were concerns that some applicants could submit applications after checking the competition ratios that were not previously available.

The Ministry of Education and KCU are currently identifying applicants who submitted new applications during the extended application period to universities where the competition ratio was publicly available. If any unfair cases are discovered as a result of the investigation, they plan to take further action.

In addition, a comprehensive investigation will be conducted into the causes and circumstances of UwayApply's system failure, as well as the entire university application system. If necessary, legal responsibility may be determined through referral for investigation. Plans are also in place to devise measures to prevent recurrence and to fundamentally review the current college admissions application system.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.