Reorganising Justice in the Higher Education Ecosystem

Higher education in Indonesia is facing a great paradox. Campuses are asked to be adaptive, innovative, impactful, and quick to respond to the needs of the times. However, some strategic policies still operate with rigid administrative logic. Proposals for new study programmes are only opened in certain months, academic promotions for lecturers wait for specific waves, the quota for KIP Kuliah scholarships remains limited and its distribution is not yet fully transparent, while state universities are given ample room through independent admission pathways. The problem is not solely with state or private universities. The main problem is the injustice of the ecosystem. Higher education is managed as if all universities have the same capital, attractiveness, subsidies, reputation, and economic resilience. In fact, that is not the case. State and private universities live in the same arena, but do not always compete with balanced resources. Data from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology shows that in 2025 there are 4,303 higher education institutions in Indonesia. Of that number, 2,713 institutions or 63.05 percent are private universities, while state universities number only 127 institutions or 2.95 percent. The rest are religious and official institutions. This data shows that institutionally, Indonesian higher education relies heavily on private universities. In terms of student numbers, the role of private universities is also significant. Higher Education Statistics 2025 records that the number of registered students reaches around 10.75 million. Private universities accommodate around 4.83 million students or 44.95 percent, larger than state universities which accommodate around 4.40 million students or 40.99 percent. With this configuration, the future of Indonesian higher education cannot be discussed only from the perspective of state universities. If private universities weaken, access to higher education weakens. The ecosystem imbalance becomes more apparent when the number of institutions decreases, but study programmes and graduates continue to increase. Higher Education Statistics 2025 notes the number of higher education institutions fell from 4,416 in 2024 to 4,303 in 2025. However, the number of study programmes rose from 33,741 to 34,711. The number of undergraduate graduates also increased from 1,794,243 in 2024 to 2,547,717 in 2025. This is a paradox. Campuses are decreasing, programmes are increasing, graduates are increasing, but this is not necessarily followed by labour absorption, learning quality, and competency relevance.