APTISI Urges Government to Halt Construction of 10 New URI Campuses Pending Review

The Association of Indonesian Private Universities (APTISI) has requested the government halt the decision on the physical construction of the Universitas Republik Indonesia (URI) pending a needs assessment, public consultation, cost-benefit analysis, and an impact mapping on existing state and private universities. APTISI Chairman Budi Djatmiko stated on Monday that while President Prabowo Subianto has a strategic goal of preparing future national leaders, public information regarding the URI development plan remained very limited as of mid-July 2026. “Therefore, a critical, objective, and evidence-based approach is needed to examine it further,” he said. Budi noted that the only information he had received concerned the appointment of Donny Ermawan Taufanto as Governor of URI and the plan to build ten campuses offering free undergraduate education through a full state budget scholarship scheme, designed to produce future leaders for government, state-owned enterprises, and other strategic institutions. However, he has yet to see the academic paper, feasibility study, legal basis, or projected budget and operational costs. Details regarding the specific locations of the ten campuses, student intake projections, study programmes, selection mechanisms, and URI’s position within the national higher education system also remain unclear. Budi added that the public has not been informed about URI’s relationship with relevant ministries, such as the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology and the National Institute of Public Administration, nor its potential impact on existing state and private universities. He suggested that URI would not significantly affect private universities if it were established as a small-scale, highly selective national leadership school at the postgraduate or advanced professional level. However, if URI opens large-scale, free undergraduate programmes across ten locations funded entirely by the state budget, it could potentially displace students from private institutions rather than creating new ones. Citing Gary Becker’s Human Capital Theory, Budi acknowledged education as an investment in human capacity but argued that human development does not necessarily require founding new universities. He proposed optimising existing scholarship programmes, short-term leadership schools, strengthening postgraduate education, or forming consortia among existing universities. “The fundamental question is no longer whether Indonesia needs better leaders, but whether building ten new universities is the most effective, efficient, and equitable instrument,” he said. Budi also raised governance concerns, noting the potential for institutional duplication given the existence of similar bodies like the National Institute of Public Administration, the Institute of Home Affairs Governance, the Defence University, and numerous public administration study programmes. He argued that expanding access to higher education to increase the Gross Participation Rate does not require building new campuses, as the rate could rise if underprivileged communities gain access to existing institutions. If URI students are merely those who would have attended private universities, the national participation rate would not increase, only the distribution of students would change.