Private University Lecturer Challenges Higher Education Funding Law in Constitutional Court

A lecturer from a private higher education institution (PTS) has challenged the funding provisions of the Higher Education Law before the Constitutional Court (MK). The petitioner, Aris Armunanto, a lecturer at Politeknik LP3I, is seeking a judicial review of Article 83 paragraph (1) of Law Number 12 of 2012 on Higher Education, arguing it contradicts Article 31 paragraph (4) of the 1945 Constitution.

During a preliminary hearing in Jakarta on Tuesday, the petitioner’s legal counsel, Muhammad Hafidz, stated that private university lecturers face limited research funding because a significant portion of the institution’s budget is allocated to operational needs. The petitioner argues that the state has a constitutional obligation to build a higher education funding policy system that supports all education providers in accordance with their educational service functions.

The petitioner clarified that this does not mean equalising the treatment of public and private universities in all respects, but rather ensuring that funding support considers the educational service functions performed as part of the national education system. In his arguments, the petitioner also referenced the government’s plan to build the Universitas Republik Indonesia (URI), suggesting that strengthening the existing funding system to improve quality, lecturer welfare, research, and innovation would be more beneficial than constructing a new university.

In his petition, the lecturer requested that the court declare the article conditionally unconstitutional if it is not interpreted to mean that the government is obliged to guarantee a fair, objective, proportional, transparent, accountable, and sustainable higher education funding policy system for both public and private institutions. Constitutional Justice Liliek Prisbawono Adie advised the petitioner to elaborate on the constitutional harm suffered and to consider the relationship between Article 83 and Article 89 of the Higher Education Law, which governs funding allocation. Deputy Chief Justice Saldi Isra also requested that the petitioner sharpen the arguments connecting the petition to the education budget provisions in Article 31 of the Constitution and previous Constitutional Court rulings.