Govt opens door to foreign universities
JAKARTA (JP): The government has opened the door to foreign universities to operate in Indonesia in a bid to improve the quality of Indonesian college graduates.
Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro also announced yesterday other sweeping measures to deregulate the education sector, deemed as necessary to strengthen the competitiveness of Indonesia's human resources.
They include allowing the use of English as the medium to teach up to 50 percent of the subjects in any university, and in the teaching of mathematics and natural sciences at junior and senior high schools.
Universities intending to use English in more than 50 percent of the subjects, or using other foreign languages, must obtain permission from the minister of education and culture.
Currently, the use of English is permitted in only selected subjects at universities.
"One of the weaknesses of Indonesian college graduates is their foreign language ability," Wardiman said. "We need to equip them better to face the global competition."
He made the announcement after meeting with President Soeharto at the Bina Graha presidential office. Also taking part were Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto, Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad and Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief.
Under the new rules, foreigners are permitted to set up colleges under join ventures with Indonesian parties.
These colleges must incorporate between 50 percent and 80 percent of the national curriculum in all of its programs. They include the teaching of Pancasila (the state ideology) and anthropology.
Wardiman said the move was consistent with the 1989 law on education which stipulates that cooperation with foreign parties is permitted so long as it does not go against national interests.
There are currently 76 government-run universities and 1,228 private universities in Indonesia. Places at the government universities are always at a premium primarily because of the institutions' higher quality and subsidized tuition fees.
Many wealthy parents who fail to enroll their children at government universities opt to send them abroad.
The Ministry of Education and Culture estimated there were about 60,000 Indonesians studying abroad last year. The United States tops the list with 15,000, followed by Australia with 14,000.
But since the plunge of the rupiah in July, at least 6,000 Indonesian students have returned home.
Other measures announced yesterday include:
* State universities can raise funds from the public, and these will not be subject to tax.
* Fiscal facilities, including faster a depreciation rate, from 20 to 15 years, on all facilities and equipment.
* More government financing to build laboratories and libraries that will be available for lease to universities. These will be managed by professionals.
* Reviving a government loan scheme for university students.
* Scrapping the requirement that colleges must have their own land and buildings. They can now rent the facilities for at least five years.
* Allowing foreign universities to enter into management contracts to provide expertise, lecturers, hardware and software. Graduates will receive Indonesian titles and titles from overseas.
* Private universities need only inform the minister of education and culture of the appointment of the rector/principal/director. They do not need the minister's approval.
* Deans will now serve for four years instead of three.
* Indonesians can set up foreign schools in Indonesia, but these will remain restricted to foreign students.
* Licenses for vocational courses will be issued by manpower/education offices at the regency/mayoralty level and not by the ministry.
* Foreign teachers/instructors are exempt from the $100 monthly charge normally imposed on all expatriates as a fee for the transfer of their skills. (prb/emb)