More students shun state universities<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The number of students writing last week's
\nnationwide admission tests for state universities declined by 8
\npercent as more high school graduates turn towards private
\nuniversities.<\/p>\n
Competition is still stiff with 378,743 participants vying for
\none of 70,000 seats at the 43 state universities. There were
\n412,638 participants in 1995.<\/p>\n
State universities, particularly the big ones like the
\nUniversity of Indonesia in Jakarta, the Bandung Institute of
\nTechnology, Diponegoro University in Semarang and Gadjah Mada
\nUniversity in Yogyakarta, are regarded as centers of excellence.<\/p>\n
Besides their academic reputation, these universities are
\nheavily subsidized by the government and therefore charge tuition
\nfees far lower than private universities.<\/p>\n
Soesmalijah Soewondo, a member of the national test committee,
\ntold The Jakarta Post yesterday that this year many graduates
\nsimply decided to shun the test and apply directly to private
\nuniversities instead.<\/p>\n
Many private universities have become as competitive as state
\nuniversities, said the staff lecturer at the University of
\nIndonesia's School of Psychology.<\/p>\n
More people have also opted for shorter courses that offer
\npractical workplace skills rather than pursuing higher education,
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
The number of private universities increased from 1,076 in
\n1993 to 1,228 this year. Altogether they offer 1.3 million seats,
\ntwice as many as those offered by state universities, according
\nto Ministry of Education and Culture data.<\/p>\n
Test participants are divided into three regions according to
\nwhere they live: Group A, comprising 17 universities in Jakarta,
\nSumatra, West Kalimantan and West Java; Group B comprising nine
\nuniversities in Central Java, Yogyakarta, South Kalimantan,
\nCentral Kalimantan and East Kalimantan; and Group C comprising 17
\nuniversities in East Java, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, Sulawesi, Maluku
\nand Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Group C saw the steepest decline in the number of participants
\nthis year, from 110,602 participants to 99,340. Group A decreased
\nfrom 207,281 to 189,101 and Group B fell from 94,755 to 90,302.<\/p>\n
Soesmalijah said the Jakarta exam committee caught three
\npeople allegedly writing the tests for other people.<\/p>\n
\"We have turned over one of them to the police while the other
\ntwo are still being investigated,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The exam committee has tried to punish students who hire
\njockeys to write their tests. Jockeys are known to get
\ncooperation of insiders.<\/p>\n
A total of 593 jockeys were caught last year.<\/p>\n
Soesmalijah said tests written by jockeys would not be marked
\nand the names of the recalcitrant students would be dropped from
\nthe entrance race. (31)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/more-students-shun-state-universities-1447893297",
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