Over 70,000 students take UGM entrance exams

Sri Wahyuni and Evi Mariani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta

Some 76,000 high school students and graduates took admission tests on Tuesday for the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University, which were given simultaneously in 17 cities across the country.

The tests, which run through Wednesday, will determine which participants will secure one of 4,000 seats at the university.

Over 32,000 registered participants took the tests in Yogyakarta, while the rest were tested in Jakarta, Banda Aceh, Medan, Palembang, Padang, Pekanbaru, Bandar Lampung, Semarang, Surabaya, Banjarmasin, Balikpapan, Denpasar, Makassar, Manado, Jayapura and Timika.

Students are not required to enclose school diplomas to register for the tests, but they will need to submit them if they pass the admission tests and their final exams at high school.

It is the first admissions test organized solely by a state university outside the annual national selection, which will take place in July. The university is allowed to conduct testing due to its status as an autonomous university.

The university rector, Sofian Effendi, said on Tuesday that the separate entrance tests were aimed at selecting more qualified students with both high cognitive and non-cognitive potential.

The difference between the national selection and the separate tests lies in the test material, Sofian said.

"Of the material we used, 20 percent is meant to measure the candidates' non-cognitive aspects, including their leadership potential and emotional maturity.

"Hopefully we will recruit students who are not just academically clever but also psychologically mature. Therefore, they will be able to finish their studies on time and with flying colors," said Sofian.

He noticed that most students at the university took another year to finish their studies, forcing the government to allocate more subsidies. Each student at the university enjoys between Rp 10 million and Rp 12 million in government subsidies annually, Sofian said.

Apart from the two days of testing, the university will also accept 1,500 students from the national selection and another 500 who will not be tested.

Those who fail the separate tests will be given the right to take another one during the national selection.

Beginning this academic year, the university will charge accepted students Rp 5 million (about US$561) on average to register apart from the tuition, which has been set at Rp 500,000 per semester, and operational costs, which vary between Rp 500,000 and Rp 750,000 each semester.

Students from low-income families can skip paying the registration fee if they submit a letter from the head of their district and their high school principal, stating that the parents cannot afford it.

Of the 6,000 seats at the university, 15 percent are reserved for students coming from low-income families, said Iwan Samariansyah, a committee member for admission tests at the university.