Expert faults plan to end university subsidy

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)