Few local universities ready to teach in English

Few local universities ready to teach in English

By Sugianto Tandra and Johannes Simbolon

JAKARTA (JP): When the Indonesian Business Institute toughened
its requirements on English skills for enrollment, more students
signed up.

Rudolf Sinaga, head of the institute's research and
development department, said this reflected "greater public
interest in the kind of education that uses English a lot".

The Indonesia Business Institute (IBI), set up in 1987, is one
of the few which welcomes the government's intention to allow the
use of English in teaching 50 percent of subjects at local
universities.

This is also good news for others like IBI which are making
preparations in this direction.

The establishments would produce students not only equipped
with master's degrees, but ones with a vital mastery of an
international language.

An obvious obstacle will be the poor grasp of English of both
lecturers and students.

"Many students still cannot fully grasp lectures in
Indonesian, let alone in English," the director general of higher
education at the Ministry of Education and Culture, Bambang
Soehendro, told The Jakarta Post.

He said only prepared universities could make the best of the
intended move to produce more qualified students.

"So, it's up to universities to implement the policy," he
said.

Sinaga of IBI said the intended policy was in line with IBI's
original mission to produce qualified graduates who had a good
command of English and who were thereby ready to compete in the
global era.

IBI, which claims it has graduates working at top companies,
is not quite ready to use English in lectures, he said. But he
pointed out that the institute had created what he called an
"English-friendly" atmosphere on campus which could be a good
basis for the implementation of the policy in the future.

Textbooks are all in English, except for subjects such as the
state ideology Pancasila.

"Unlike other universities, our students get English lessons
for three semesters," he said, adding that the institute had four
English language laboratories.

A certain degree of English proficiency is one of IBI's
entrance requirements for applicants. To qualify for sitting
final exams students must have a minimum Test of English as a
Foreign Language (TOEFL) score of 500.

Candidates for lecturers are also required to have mastered
English, Sinaga said, adding that IBI had 100 lecturers,
including two professors and three doctorate title holders to
teach over 3,000 students.

Routine

The institute also routinely upgrades its lecturers' English
proficiency, for which the institute cooperates with the
Netherlands' Erasmus University.

Under the program, for instance, IBI lecturers work with
visiting lecturers from Erasmus University to prepare research
proposals.

IBI students have voiced different opinions regarding the
government's intention to introduce the use of English in
universities. "A few have urged lecturers to use English, but
many prefer bilingual teaching," Sinaga said.

"In a nutshell, we're not yet ready ... but we're happy with
the introduction of the policy. And we fully realize that English
is a necessity for our students," he added.

Soenjono Dardjowidjojo, a linguist at Jakarta's Atma Jaya
Catholic University, one of the top private universities in town,
was pessimistic about the plan.

"I believe most, if not all, universities in Indonesia are not
yet ready to use English in teaching. I don't know when they will
be," said Soenjono.

Soenjono said Atma Jaya had no foreseeable plans to teach
subjects in English, but was still busy with improving the
English skills of its lecturers.

For this purpose, it is working with Australia's Griffith
University, Belgium's Lueven University and the Philippines' St.
Thomas University.

Soenjono said that if Atma Jaya was to implement such a policy
he would propose that it set up an experimental class.

"Students have different levels of English skills," he said.

Nevertheless he praised the government's move, which he said
would provide students with more opportunities to improve their
English.

However, Soenjono said that a better method would be to
provide subsidies for those wishing to take English courses.

Soenjono also called for a revamping of the method of teaching
English at the country's schools in order to improve students'
language skills before they entered university.

"Unless we change our method of teaching English (at high
schools), we can't prepare our children for colleges in English,"
he said.

He proposed that high school English classes have between 15
and 20 students, instead of 40 and 50 students, to make teaching
effective.

Melanie Budianta, an English lecturer at the University of
Indonesia, said that to her knowledge the university had no
immediate plans to teach subjects in English.

If it did, the university would most likely find it had less
problems than other universities as many of its lecturers had
studied overseas.

"But most entrants are from high schools which do not provide
them with enough knowledge of English," she said.

Melanie agreed with Soenjono that English lessons in high
schools should be improved.