RI to partner with foreign universities

Moch. N. Kurniawan, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is drafting a regulation to allow foreign learning institutions to open branches in Indonesia, in order to improve the quality of the country's human resources.

Aji Sukmo, a senior official of the Ministry of National Education, said on Thursday, that higher learning institutions that require huge capital, such as polytechnics, would be among the first to open branches here.

Currently, foreign learning institutions are not allowed to enter into partnership with local institutions, but some have established twin programs with overseas universities.

Universities, however, will be excluded from the regulation. According to Aji, foreign institutions may only control 50 percent of local universities.

He also said big cities like Jakarta, Bandung, and Yogyakarta will become the first places where foreign learning institutions can set up branches.

"The plan can help improve the quality of the country's human resource, reduce the number of Indonesian students studying overseas and improve the quality of local universities," Aji said.

It was not clear if the foreign learning institutions involved will adopt Indonesia's curriculum or will be allowed to implement their own curriculum.

Tens of thousands of Indonesians, particularly those coming from wealthy families, are studying overseas, including the United States, Canada, Australia, and neighboring Singapore and Malaysia.

Indonesians contribute US$25 million per year to Australian universities alone by studying there.

Aji did not say when the policy would be implemented.

So far, the United States, China, Japan, Korea, Australia and New Zealand have shown interest in providing branches for higher and adult education here.

"But, only foreign institutions recognized by their respective governments will be allowed to establish their schools here," Aji said.

Under the newly endorsed education law, Indonesia will open its basic, middle, and high levels of education to foreign institutions that are accredited by their respective governments.

Indonesia's education institutions, particularly universities, rank among the worst in Asia.

However, a number of universities have expressed fears that the planned branches will finish them due to an increase in competition.

Another speaker Armida S. Alisjahbana from the University of Padjajaran, Bandung, West Java said Indonesia should learn from Malaysia in expanding its education sector.

"They invited well-known foreign universities to establish their universities in Malaysia at a similar level to the original universities," she said.

"Malaysia opened its education fields -- business, information technology, science, and engineering, for example -- to achieve its goal to become an advanced country in 2020."

She agreed with the planned expansion of the education sector, saying that it would meet the demand for higher education at an international standard.

This would also encourage local universities to reach higher standards, as they would be forced to compete with the foreign education institutions, she said.