Higher education

I would like to congratulate you on your eight excellent articles and comparative cost table, on the issue of higher education, launched by the heading Where to go after high school? (May 4, 1997).

However, your education team played a sleight of hand trick through the indulgent use of the pejorative term "so-called", such as "the so-called 'twinning program'" with foreign universities, or a "so-called" donation to a private university for maintenance. Other pejoratives implied by some of your articles include, "(Indonesian Christian University) offers full scholarships for bright high school students from poor families and from backward areas such as...the eastern part of Indonesia," and the lack of understanding what education delivers, illustrated by your team's statement that spending money on education to obtain a certificate was "really expensive". This implies that paying a substantially reduced price for the same certificate would deliver the same set of goods.

Your final paragraph deserves to be reprinted here to make my point. "These illustrations (the cost of specific courses at different universities) show that university certificates are really expensive. And experience shows the certificates can't always guarantee a good job for the holders."

Unfortunately you are not stressing that a degree is only one of the benefits that a university education offers. Other benefits of post high school education include:

* positive benefits of going to the very best school you can get into. You can usually find a way to pay for it now or later, if you truly want and deserve to be there.

* the extra curricular activities you get a chance to take part in, such as sports, the arts, debating societies, etc., which broaden your mind and experience, but also show you what you like and are good at. And equally important for a happy, successful life -- what you don't do and aren't.

* the excellent people you meet and the power of a "network" of alumni you are about to join.

* people's jobs, the skills that they need, and their lives change dramatically over their working lives, so developing an inquiring mind and taking part in continuous education -- formally and informally, whether sponsored by your employer or not -- is a must for any professional in today's rapidly changing world.

Finally, you completely missed the point on the cost of education. In this global market place, you get what you pay for throughout your educational lifetime, from preschool right through to postgraduate studies.

If tomorrow's business leaders need "global vision" and "local expertise" to compete internationally, how do they get it? Will they get it by sending their children to a prestigious (your term) state university? And does this mean if you are lucky enough to get in, you are saying "goodbye" to the influential network of alumni in Indonesia's private business sector?

What I understand the Minister of Education and Culture is attempting to do by developing links with overseas higher education institutions, through twinning or link schemes, is to improve the availability and quality of education to all Indonesians, at a reasonable price. I other words, Minister Wardiman Djojonegoro is trying to widen and deepen the choice available to his nation's citizens, all of whom are his customers. If you can't find what you are looking for in Indonesia, or simply want the qualification, personal development and experience gained from living in a new environment, you could go to a foreign university. Increasing numbers go abroad every year.

SEAMUS MCELROY

Yogyakarta