Want to skip the vaccine queue? Take a college entrance exam

There’s a new cohort of “students” signing up for South Korea’s notoriously tough college entrance exam – and it’s not because they want to apply for university.

Some twenty-somethings are allegedly taking advantage of a government scheme that aims to vaccinate all students heading to the college scholastic ability test (CSAT), according to local media.

The suneung, as the exam is commonly known, essentially closes down the country for one day a year, as about 500,000 students travel to indoor testing sites all at the same time.  Last year, the government enacted a soft lockdown on the nation a week before the exam, for disease-control purposes.

This year, the education and health authorities have offered to give test-takers the coveted Pfizer jab before the mock exam in September and the full exam in November. Sign-ups for the mock exam are open now.

Only about 7 per cent of the South Korean population has been fully vaccinated as of this week. Priority spots are being given to the elderly and front-line workers.

The local media quoted netizens on education forums saying that they were willing to pay the CSAT exam charge of 47,000 Korean won (about £30) for the vaccine.

An education ministry official told the media that they had no way of differentiating “real” CSAT applicants and interlopers, “because we have to guarantee [students’] freedom”. However, he conceded that those only in it for the jab were “unlikely to show up at the CSAT sites”.

“Some college students are registering for the mock CSAT in order to get the vaccine ahead of others, so that they can enjoy their leisure time and nightlife without any constraints,” said Chang Kim, executive director of the Korean Association of Human Resource Development. “They are not really interested in the mock CSAT or CSAT, but are expecting a number of benefits from being vaccinated.”

Meanwhile, the education ministry appealed this month to the government to vaccinate university staff. Campuses were expected to resume some in-person classes starting in the second semester, which begins in August. 

joyce.lau@timeshighereducation.com