'Productivity level low at private universities'

JAKARTA (JP): The productivity level at Indonesia's private universities is only half that of the state universities, Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro said Saturday.

The productivity level is measured in terms of the proficiency of students, the teacher-student ratio and the number of students that graduate every year.

"It is high time private universities systematically improve their quality," he said during a speech at the Muhammadiyah Teachers Training and Education Institute.

Wardiman suggested that private universities improve the quality of their lecturers and the teacher-student ratio in order to improve productivity.

In private universities, each lecturer teaches 40 students, while in state universities, a lecturer teaches only 12 students, he said.

He said students in private universities take longer to finish their studies than students do at state universities. This, he said contributes to the low productivity performance.

"At private universities, the students finish their studies in five years and six months for the undergraduate program and four years and two months for the non-degree diploma program," Wardiman said.

At state universities students can finish their education sooner; five years and two months for the undergraduate program and three years and a month for the diploma program.

According to Ministry of Education and Culture data, the number of private universities has increased from 1,076 in 1993 to 1,228 this year.

The private universities have about 1.3 million seats, twice as many as state universities.

However, most private universities, which have an average of 1,200 students each, keep enrolling students to maintain as high an income as possible.

"Private universities should cooperate. Some should even consider merging to maximize their resources," Wardiman said.

He stressed that private universities should not disregard the aspect of quality in improving their productivity.

He said he hoped the National Accreditation Board, which the government established in 1994, will help improve the quality Of private schools.

The board, now in trial operations, will go into full operation in the first semester of the 1996/97 school year to accredit about 1,408 higher education institutions. Of those, 76 are state-owned universities, 104 are specialized training academies, and 1,228 are private universities.

After the process, all study programs will be categorized as either accredited or non-accredited on the basis of their quality, efficiency and the relevance of their study programs.

Accredited private universities will be able to conduct their own examinations. (31)