'A degree is not everything'

The government has woken up to the issue of bogus universities that have provided, according to a report, unlicensed degrees to many of its officials, including former vice president Hamzah Haz. The Jakarta Post asked residents for their reactions to the issue.

Ali, 30, works at a publishing company. He lives in South Jakarta:

Obtaining certificates from bogus universities is an insult to the intelligence because people are buying university degrees, while others have to study hard to get scholarships and do their research and pass their examinations.

In Indonesia, a title is seen as something prestigious, while the capability of a person should be measured not by how many academic titles they hold but on their competency and professionalism.

I think, from the beginning, the Ministry of National Education and police should stop and arrest people who are involved in this practice. People only started talking (about the practice) after one incident was reported recently. Why didn't the authorities do anything before?

I think people should understand that academic titles are not the top achievements in life, there are greater things to strive for like competency and professionalism.

Prodita Kusuma Sabarini, 23, is a non-governmental organization activist who lives in Bogor:

As far as I'm concerned the institution that issued unlicensed degrees is not a new education institution.

Many government officials graduated from that institution, if I'm not mistaken. So why has the government revealed the practice now? It doesn't make any sense.

Maybe the government just doesn't have an adequate system to supervise the operation of education institutions, so that this kind of problem happens over and over again.

I think this problem also compounds the feeling that Indonesians have that a degree is everything. They think that the degree will give them status. What's the point of having a degree if you aren't capable of achieving it yourself.

The government needs to take a good, hard look at the education system so that this sort of thing won't happen again.

-- The Jakarta Post