Deregulation of higher education welcomed

JAKARTA (JP): An education observer and a university rector welcomed yesterday the government's bid to improve the quality of the country's higher education system by allowing foreign universities to operate in Indonesia.

The former rector of Muhammadiyah Teachers Training Institute in Jakarta, Mochtar Buchori, and rector of the Mercu Buana University here, Suharyadi, agreed the measure would bode well for the progress of local universities.

"This will give local universities competition, so that they have a comparison for how a real university should be run," Buchori said.

"So I see no problem with the new measure."

The two observers were contacted separately to comment on the government's latest deregulation of the education sector which, among other things, will allow foreign universities to set up colleges under join ventures with Indonesian parties.

Minister of Education Wardiman Djojonegoro announced the new measure last Friday, saying it would strengthen the competitiveness of Indonesia's human resources.

Suharyadi said the new measure was inevitable in the face of globalization which has influenced the country over the years.

But he was not too optimistic that the presence of foreign universities would help the country upgrade its human resources development as promptly as the government may hope.

"For me, it's just nonsense that foreigners will genuinely want to help us educate our people. Their presence here will surely have an economic motive, instead of a social motive which is what education is all about."

Therefore, the government has to provide enough protection for the country's existing universities, especially its private ones which have been "in dire straits" all along, he said.

Buchori, however, argued that local universities which have been struggling would succumb, whether "willing or not", with the presence of better managed foreign universities.

Buchori and Suharyadi both agreed that the government must be "strictly selective" about allowing foreign universities to operate in the country.

Buchori said the presence of qualified foreign universities in Indonesia would bode well for institution building at local universities.

He pointed to, for instance, the excellence of a language laboratory -- which is usually attached to a university abroad -- and its dynamics in developing university courses, which local universities should also be open to.

Suharyadi agreed but warned against making the same mistake as in the 1970s when the country opened itself up to foreign companies.

"We let them in the hope they could help us develop our economy while at the same time develop the country's human resources, but it didn't deliver, did it?"

Suharyadi said the government must not be "too loose or give too many opportunities" to foreign universities which operate in the country.

"We just have to realize that the country's human resources are not strong enough for free competition, but if local universities are properly protected, then why not?" (aan)