DPR Proposes Operational Assistance for Private Universities in Education Bill
Commission X of the House of Representatives (DPR) has stated that it continues its efforts to save the operations of private universities (PTS) from the risk of closure amid the imbalance in the higher education ecosystem in recent times.
Deputy Chairman of Commission X, Lalu Hadrian Irfani, said that in the Draft Law on the National Education System, the DPR has proposed an assistance provision so that there is no differential treatment between state universities (PTN) and private universities.
“If state universities have BOPTN, for private ones we propose the name BOPTS,” said Lalu when contacted on Saturday, 18 July 2026.
He continued that the proposal for an operational assistance scheme for PTS was submitted to prevent the decline of private universities, particularly those in the small category, from the risk of closure.
Regarding the regulation, he explained that the BOPTS provision would later be further regulated through a government regulation. “Whether the scheme is 30 per cent or whatever, we are working on it from all budgetary allocations for education,” said the politician from the PKB party.
In the 8 July 2026 draft of the National Education System Bill, Commission X of the DPR sets out provisions for providing assistance to private universities, one of which is found in Article 238 paragraph (1).
The provision of this article requires the central government to allocate education funding assistance for both state and private universities.
On 14 June 2026, the Association of Indonesian Private Universities (Aptisi) laid out a number of problems faced by campuses before officials of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.
At that forum, Aptisi submitted a study to serve as material for consideration in the National Education System Bill. One of its requests was for the government to apply the principle of fiscal justice to both state and private universities.
The assistance scheme proposed by Aptisi would no longer involve education subsidies attached directly to universities. Instead, subsidies should be granted based on the status of students from poor families, whether at state or private universities.