New UGM facilities worth Rp 900 billion inaugurated

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Minister of National Education Malik Fadjar officially opened on Tuesday 60 new buildings at Gadjah Mada University (UGM), which were built at a total cost of about Rp 900 billion (US$106 million).

Measuring a total of 89,000 square meters, the buildings belong to seven UGM departments: medicine, dentistry, forestry, agriculture, agricultural technology, veterinary medicine, and animal husbandry.

Construction of the buildings began in 1998, with the goal of strengthening the academic quality of the departments.

"With these new buildings and departments that meet international standards, UGM is one step ahead of others in improving the quality of education.

"The new buildings will also help UGM be more competitive against universities abroad," UGM rector Sofian Effendi said in a speech during the inauguration ceremony.

He said the new buildings included lecture halls, discussion rooms, lecturers' offices, administrative rooms, libraries and laboratories.

The construction was made possible through a loan provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC). The construction of the 60 new buildings, according to Sofian, cost nearly Rp 1 trillion, of which some Rp 800 billion came from the JBIC loan.

"It is a very soft loan of 40 years with an interest rate of only 3 percent a year and a grace period of 10 years," said Sofian.

Because the project was based on an agreement between the Indonesian government and the JBIC that was reached in 1998 while the university was still state-run, the loan is the central government's responsibility.

"We only have to pay the operational and maintenance fees," Sofian said.

Established in December 19, 1949, UGM became a private university in December 1999. UGM has a stated goal of becoming one of Asia's top 10 universities by 2020.

UGM currently has 18 schools with 2,262 lecturers and nearly 60,000 students.