Expert faults plan to end university subsidy

JAKARTA (JP): The government-planned pilot project for autonomy for state universities does not reach the heart of the problem, a researcher said.

Hermawan Sulistyo of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) and a graduate of the University of Indonesia was addressing a dialog on the plan at the university on Tuesday.

Establishing academic freedom was more important than the much protested plan to withdraw 80 percent of government subsidy, he said.

"Autonomy plans for universities elsewhere do not involve withdrawals of government subsidies," Hermawan, also a graduate of Arizona State University in the United States, said.

The government was "avoiding its responsibility" to subsidize universities, and it could not use the monetary crisis as an excuse for the subsidy withdrawal, he said.

"They caused mismanagement which led to the crisis," Hermawan said.

University autonomy was regulated in the 1999 Government Regulation No. 61, which stipulates universities as nonprofit state-owned legal entities. Autonomy would be effective in 2001 and the need for increased competition was cited behind the plan.

University students continued at the talks their rejection of the recent tuition increase, which university officials said was inevitable given the plan to withdraw the subsidy.

"Withdrawing 80 percent of the government subsidy means that tuition fees at state-run universities will be as expensive as fees at private universities," said Bachtiar Firdaus, the president of the students executives body at the University of Indonesia.

The subsidy withdrawal was part of a government plan to implement university autonomy to four of Indonesia's leading state universities including the University of Indonesia.

The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) and the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) were the other three institutions involved in the pilot project, deputy rector for academic affairs, Usman Chatib Warsa, said.

The tuition fee per semester will rise from about Rp 450,000 (US$65.21) to Rp 1,785,000 for science studies and Rp 1,535,000 for social studies at the University of Indonesia (UI).

The fee increase was put into effect for new students of the 1999/2000 academic year by the special admission scheme for students from outside Jakarta with outstanding grades.

Students said that in earlier talks with university leaders they were told UI rector Asman Budi Santoso had not signed a decree to that effect.

The talks included former rector M.K. Tadjudin who was on the university team preparing for the university's autonomy.

Usman said UI intended to be "an integrated and autonomous international research university". The vision needed autonomy, accountability, accreditation and evaluation. All this needed plenty of money, Usman said.

"Ideally, the government, students and other parties each contribute one third of a (state university's) annual budget," Usman said.

Tadjudin said under the autonomy plan, "Rectors are allowed to establish (business) cooperation with other parties more freely."

Based on the autonomy plan, the rector is not appointed by the minister but by a board of trustees comprising representatives of the government, students and community. (05)