Where to go after high school?<\/p>\n
Where to go after high school? In commemoration of Friday's
\nNational Education Day, The Jakarta Post looks into the issue on
\nthis page, and pages 5, 8 and 9. The articles are prepared
\nby the Post's team of reporters, Johannes Simbolon, K. Basrie, A.
\nJunaidi, Christiani A. Tumelap, Deborah P. Hutauruk, Lukman
\nNatanegara, and IGN Oka Budhi Yogaswara.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A group of high school girls had gathered at a
\nnew fashion school's stand during the ongoing education fair at
\nthe Jakarta Convention Center.<\/p>\n
The school, which is based in Jakarta and affiliated to a
\nfamous fashion school in Europe, offers a three-year course
\ncosting between US$7,200 and $8,400 a year.<\/p>\n
The girls looked impressed with the way the school's
\nrepresentative promoted the school.<\/p>\n
\"You'd better enroll at this school, 'cause it's teeming with
\nenjoyment. You don't need to learn Pancasila (the state
\nideology), PMP (Pancasila ethics) or mathematics,\" was how the
\nperson wooed the girls.<\/p>\n
\"A fashion designer now gets between Rp 1 million ($423) and
\nRp 3 million a month. After you finish your study in three years,
\nyou might receive an even higher salary,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The annual fair, which is open until tomorrow, offers a
\nmultitude of choices to the final-grade students who leave school
\nearly next month.<\/p>\n
All the universities and schools participating in the fair
\noffer attractive packages, or, if they don't have attractive
\npackages, they employ clever strategies to win the students'
\nhearts.<\/p>\n
The Army, which could not promise high salaries, displayed
\nweapons and even gave students the opportunity to practice
\nshooting and rappelling at a mock training ground. After
\ncompleting the latter, and signing his or her name and address on
\nthe guest book, they received in return a commemorative souvenir
\nsuch as a T-shirt carrying army's logo, or a pen.<\/p>\n
\"The number of students who want to enroll in the army has
\ndecreased over the past two years. Through this fair, we want to
\nwin back their hearts. We want to implant a sense of nationalism
\nin their hearts, so they don't only think about money,\" said Lt.
\nCol. R.H. Permana on the army's stand.<\/p>\n
Universities from Britain, the United States, Singapore,
\nAustralia and the Netherlands also take part in the fair. Some of
\nthem try to lure students with the so-called \"twinning program\".
\nUnder the program, students learn for two years in Indonesia
\nbefore transferring automatically abroad.<\/p>\n
The end of high school is indeed a moment of opportunities.
\nFor nonprofit-oriented organizations such as the army, it is a
\ntime to select its future leaders. For profit-driven schools, it
\nis the time to make money.<\/p>\n
Tight competition<\/p>\n
In this era of tight competition, more and more parents think
\ntheir children should go to university. They are afraid that
\notherwise their offspring will end up earning little money by
\ndoing menial jobs at labor-intensive factories or digging holes
\nfor phone cables at night in the company of mosquitoes.<\/p>\n
But going to university is not easy. First of all, it requires
\na lot of money. If students are lucky enough, they may be
\naccepted at one of the prestigious state universities which
\ncharge lower tuition fees than private universities.<\/p>\n
State universities charge students an average Rp 1 million to
\nenroll. This includes the entrance fee and tuition fee for one
\nsemester. Some private universities charge more than Rp 10
\nmillion.<\/p>\n
An estimated 1.3 million high school students will end their
\nstudies this year, 100,000 more than last year. They will compete
\nfor a limited number of seats at the 51 state universities around
\nthe country. If they fail, they will have to choose from the
\n1,262 private universities. Alternatively, if they are rich
\nenough, they may go abroad.<\/p>\n
The demand for places at state universities is so high that
\nalmost all high school students prepare themselves by taking a
\nspecial short course to analyze the previous state university
\nentrance tests.<\/p>\n
Those who fail the entrance test might feel a loser. However
\nsome private universities offer a quality of education as good
\nas, if not better than, state universities.<\/p>\n
Chairman of the Indonesian Private Universities Consultative
\nBody Bun Yamin Ramto recently said that of the 5,515 schools at
\nthe country's 1,262 private universities, only 996, or 18
\npercent, had been awarded the highest \"equal\" accreditation from
\nthe government. Twenty-two percent, or 1,206 schools, had the
\nlower \"acknowledged\" accreditation, and the 3,313 other schools
\n(60 percent) were considered good enough only for the lowest
\n\"registered\" accreditation.<\/p>\n
Schools with \"equal\" accreditation have the right to run their
\nown final exams. Students at colleges with \"acknowledged\" status
\nstill have to take the state-organized final tests in certain
\nsubjects. The \"registered\" colleges have to cooperate with the
\ngovernment to organize the final tests in all subjects.<\/p>\n
The schools with equal accreditation are concentrated in Java;
\nthere are none in less-developed areas like Kalimantan, Maluku
\nand Irian.<\/p>\n
\"Many students go to private universities of unknown quality
\nwithout a guarantee of being absorbed into the labor market after
\nfinishing their studies. It's waste of time, money and energy,\"
\nsaid education expert Mochtar Buchori.<\/p>\n
Mochtar said there was no complete and systematic information
\ndatabase on the state of the country's private universities.<\/p>\n
A private universities coordinator, Usman Pelly, recently said
\nthat only 0.3 percent of the annual 250,000 university graduates
\ncould be absorbed into the labor market and it would take about
\n25 years to increase the proportion to 10 percent.<\/p>\n
And that is not the only worrying statistic. Yamin said
\nIndonesia had the lowest ratio of university students and
\ngraduates in Southeast Asia. Only 11 percent or 2.4 million of
\nthe 21-million Indonesians aged 19 to 24 years had studied at
\nuniversity, compared with 30 percent in the Philippines, 28
\npercent in Thailand, 13 percent in Malaysia, 53 percent in Japan,
\n38 percent in South Korea, and 68 percent in the United States.<\/p>\n
He said the government planned to increase the ratio to 25
\npercent by the end of the Second Twenty-Five Year Long Term
\nDevelopment Plan in 2019.<\/p>\n
According to government data, only 45.7 percent or 551,000 of
\nthe 1.2 million high school graduates last year were admitted to
\nthe country's universities. The rest had to find a job or improve
\ntheir academic ability through short courses.<\/p>\n
\"Not all students could or should go to university. Some of
\nthem go straight into work or take vocational courses. Being able
\nto continue studying at the university level depends on various
\nfactors. One of them is definitely financial,\" said Minister of
\nEducation and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro. (team)<\/p>",
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