Master's degree easily obtained in Indonesia

Master's degree easily obtained in Indonesia

YOGYAKARTA (JP): An education observer condemned the "trading
of academic degrees" by privately run schools through their
instant programs, saying this was a type of white-collar crime.

Moh. Mahfud MD of the Islamic University of Indonesia said
during a one-day seminar titled Trading Degrees: A Threat to
Education at Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah University on Saturday, that
arranging instant programs for high-academic degrees was a moral
swindle. "Awarding academic degrees through a very simple process
is fooling and cheating people."

The seminar was jointly sponsored by Yogyakarta Muhammadiyah
University and the Yogyakarta chapter of the Indonesian
Journalists Association.

Mahfud said the owners of schools which promised doctoral
degrees were aggressive in their advertising. "They put
irrational ads in newspapers offering three doctoral degrees to
those who are willing to pay Rp 1 million. They have people go to
villages seeking prospective students."

Mahfud was referring to the booming business of educational
institutions offering short-term master's degree programs, known
as MBA/BBA programs. Through such programs, a person can receive
a master's degree in management in a relatively short time, and
with a minimum of teaching and learning.

He said the police should be proactive in curbing this
business. "(But) the police are reluctant to deal with this
because no one has filed a report claiming to have been
victimized by the programs."

"This is a crime. Those achieving instant academic degrees
must not obtain good positions in their offices. Such people have
the potential to be corrupt," he said.

Also speaking at the seminar was J. Drost, the former rector
of Yogyakarta-based Sanata Dharma Teacher Training Institute and
a former headmaster at Kanisius and Gonzaga colleges. He said
Indonesia was the only country in the world where master's
degrees could be obtained in 18 months, or three semesters.

"In other countries one needs at least 12 semesters to achieve
this prestigious degree," Drost said. "It doesn't make sense at
all."

The Indonesian educational system should take responsibility,
he said, adding that the system had failed to produce
professional graduates.

People usually need higher degrees to make themselves publicly
"acceptable", he said. "This makes people vulnerable to becoming
involved in the trading of educational degrees through the
BBA/MBA programs."

He blamed the Directorate General of Higher Education at the
Ministry of Education for failing to curb the mushrooming short-
time MBA/BBA graduate programs.

Suyanto, the rector of Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, shared
his opinion, saying schools offering instant degrees had ignored
the administrative and academic prerequisites stipulated in
Government Regulation No. 60/1999.

"People should be more critical," Suyanto said, adding that
only ethics and morals could curb the practice.

"Academic degrees purchased through instant courses are just
dreams, which have no soul and spirit to educate people. The
reason to provide the degrees is merely money," said Suyanto.
(swa/sur)