'Early Admission System Failure': Relief Process for 1,200 Applicants Begins Today... Separate Investigation for New Applications

Relief Applications Accepted at Uway Apply from September 14 to 16

Verification of Actual Intent to Apply Based on Digital Records

Separate Identification of New Applicants During Extended Deadline

Investigation into Unfair Practices

The process to provide relief for the approximately 1,200 applicants who were unable to complete their applications due to a system failure during the 2027 academic year rolling admissions will begin on September 14, 2026. The Ministry of Education stated that only those applicants who can be confirmed to have actually begun their applications at the time of the system outage will be eligible for relief. In addition, the Ministry is separately identifying applicants who submitted their applications after the final competitive ratios were published, to investigate if there were any cases of unfairness.

The Ministry of Education is currently determining the number of applicants who submitted their forms during the extended deadline—separate from the relief for those who failed to submit due to the rolling admissions system failure. A ministry official commented, "We have a general idea of the number, but we are working to confirm the precise figure," and added, "The number is not large."

Some have pointed out that because some universities released the competitive ratios around the original deadline of 6 p.m., the extension of the deadline to 7 p.m. allowed applicants who saw these ratios to newly apply, raising concerns about fairness.

In response, the Ministry of Education is carefully reviewing individual cases among new applicants, such as those who had no other choice but to apply to different universities due to the system failure. This is because some applicants, who were unable to apply to their intended university due to an error in the UwayApply system, ended up applying to other universities through a different service. If it is confirmed that new applications were submitted after the final competitive ratios were published, the ministry will review whether to approve these applications as they are or implement separate measures, based on the results of the investigation.

The system failure occurred for about 30 minutes, from 5:50 p.m. to around 6:20 p.m. on September 11, 2026, the final day for rolling admissions submission, and it affected the UwayApply system. Some applicants experienced errors while trying to save their applications or pay their application fees just before the deadline. Although the original deadline of 6 p.m. was extended by one hour to 7 p.m., there were still applicants who failed to complete their submissions because they did not see the extension notice or for other reasons.

The Ministry of Education and the Korean Council for University Education estimate that out of approximately 2.61 million application submissions for rolling admissions for the 2027 school year, up to 1,200 applicants were unable to complete their submissions due to the system failure. Relief requests can be made on the UwayApply website from 9 a.m. on September 14, 2026, until 6 p.m. on September 16, 2026. The process will determine whether system errors occurred during the application writing, saving, submitting, or payment of application fees. In consideration of fairness to those who submitted normally, the application selection unit already confirmed via digital records cannot be changed. Applicants confirmed as eligible for relief will be individually notified and permitted to submit their applications until 10 p.m. on September 16, 2026.

Currently, university application submissions are operated through individual contracts between universities and private service providers. According to the Ministry of Education, until 1997, most universities conducted their own application processes, but since then, private application agencies emerged and, around 2009, the two-agency system of UwayApply and JinhakApply has been in place. Around 2010, there were discussions about acquiring private agencies, and in 2013 there was an attempt to build a public application submission system through a bidding process. However, this was abandoned after a temporary injunction filed by private agencies was granted by the courts. As a result, the current system involving private agents has been established.

The Ministry of Education plans to use this incident as an opportunity to inspect the application agency system as well. A Ministry official said, "Because universities and agencies enter into contracts individually, it has been difficult for the Ministry to intervene," but added, "Given the seriousness of this incident, we will look into it directly and take strong measures as needed." The official further stated that on-site inspections would be conducted after the applicant relief process concludes. The Ministry of Education also plans to investigate the causes and response to the UwayApply system failure, and if necessary, will hold parties legally accountable, including requesting investigations.

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