Competition kills off private universities

SURAKARTA, Central Java: Stiff competition has forced about 50 percent of the country's 2,300 private universities to close their doors, a rector says.

Sultan Agung University rector Rofiq Anwar said many private universities had closed down now that the government allowed state universities to offer new programs and raise funds so as to become self-sufficient.

The fact that government decisionmakers are mostly state university graduates led to policies beneficial to state universities, he said.

"But private university graduates are lucky, as many government officials have been implicated in corruption cases," Rofiq, who also heads region IV of the Association of Indonesian Private Universities, said. -- Antara