Dispensation for Acehnese students

Dispensation for Acehnese students

YOGYAKARTA: New student candidates from Nanggroe Aceh
Darussalam province will receive a special dispensation in the
upcoming 2003/2004 academic year, the Gadjah Mada University
(UGM) rector, Sofian Effendi, said on Monday.

"We'll give them a longer period to register themselves as
they might suffer from both transportation and financial
difficulties due to the war," he explained.

Sofian said that new student candidates would be given from
June 9 to June 16 to register themselves, but those coming from
restive provinces would be allowed to register before the
academic year begins in early September.

"Students from Aceh also have the right to apply for
scholarships through the UGM Peduli program," he said.

Out of the 76,000 students who applied for UGM, only 4,696 of
them passed the entrance selection requirements. These
requirements applied to the five different selection schemes
accepted by the university, including the UGM's own entrance
test, which was held on April 22 and April 23. Some 1,500 other
candidates will be admitted through the national entrance test to
be held next month. UGM plans to accept some 6,000 new students
this academic year. -- JP

;ANTARA;
ANPAa..r..
Scene-education-quality
'Education quality must improve'
JP/4/SCENE

'Education quality must improve'

YOGYAKARTA: Minister of National Education A. Malik Fajar said
on Tuesday that the quality of national education must be
improved substantially to help the country catch up with the
latest scientific and technological developments.

The minister's statement was read out by Director General for
Basic and Secondary Education Indra Jati Sidi at the National
Conference of the National Vocational Training Council (MPKN).

Malik Fajar quoted the Human Development Index report as
saying that in terms of educational quality, Indonesia was ranked
102nd out of 106 countries all over the world.

Based on the Human Development Index, Indonesia is even below
of Vietnam, he said.

Given this, he stressed the need to improve the quality of
national education, along with its relevance to daily life.

Malik stressed that qualified and professional human resources
were needed to help the country cope with the challenges of
global competition.

He said it was necessary to include businessmen and
industrialists in discussing improvements to the quality of
national education. - Antara