Govt asks for transparent use of admission fees

Govt asks for transparent use of admission fees

Andi Hajramurni and Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Makassar/Yogyakarta

The government said it would not prohibit state universities with
autonomous status from selling some placements to students from
well-off families, but reminded them to be transparent in using
the money.

Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar said on
Friday there was no excuse for the universities not to be
accountable when it came to the whopping amount of funds raised
from the public.

"There must be transparency, openness and public
accountability so that the public understands and accepts the
reasons behind the policy, and so that their arguments make
sense," Malik said on the sidelines of the Muhammadiyah congress
in the South Sulawesi capital, Makassar.

He said the government had issued directives for the
universities to implement the policy, which has met with
criticism nationwide for discriminating against poor students and
compromising the quality of education.

The University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Gadjah Mada University
in Yogyakarta, the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the
Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) in West Java have reserved a
portion of their seats for the new academic year for students who
can afford to pay admission fees far above the normal rate.

They claimed that the funds raised from the "special program"
would help them finance education activities after the government
cut its subsidy for them, thanks to their new status as
autonomous universities.

While Gadjah Mada University is charging each student at least
Rp 5 million (US$609), the University of Indonesia is asking for
between Rp 25 million and Rp 75 million. ITB is offering
placements for up to Rp 150 million.

The universities will admit more students through the national
admission tests that involve 48 state universities across the
country on July 1 and July 2, with 82,950 placements on offer.

Malik said a House of Representatives hearing with rectors of
the four autonomous universities was part of attempts to
disseminate information on the reasons behind the controversial
policy.

"The effort to disseminate information needs a follow-up to
give the public a clear picture of the policy," Malik said.

During the hearing in Jakarta on Wednesday, House Commission
VI on education asked the universities to review their policy.

In Yogyakarta, Gadjah Mada rector Sofian Effendi maintained
that the country's oldest university would not comply with the
House's request.

"We are not turning this university into a profit-seeking
institution. Commercializing education to me means, for example,
sacrificing academic standards for the sake of money, or selling
diplomas or placements," he said.

"The results of the test are the determining factor for
students to qualify for this university."

He said the high charge was another attempt to prevent wasted
seats.

"Of the 6,000 new students we accept every year, usually about
10 percent of the seats are squandered as the students do not
reregister. In the past, we just abandoned them. But now we have
a legal entity status, so why don't we just offer them to those
who are willing to study without being subsidized?" Sofian said.

From the special program this year, some 600 new students of
Gadjah Mada University will pay the full tuition fee of Rp 11
million a year, excluding the Rp 5 million admission fee.

On Thursday, some 50 students grouped in the Students
Concerned about Gadjah Mada University staged a rally on the
campus to protest the high charge and demand cheap education.