State universities open doors to the rich

State universities open doors to the rich

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

For the second year running, state universities across Indonesia
will select new students based on the independent selection
program (ISP), which allows well-off candidates with lower grades
to get into college.

Most of the 82,000 places in the universities for the next
academic year, however, will be awarded based on the results of
the National Admission Test (SPMB), which will be held nationwide
between July 1 and July 4.

Under the ISP, to enter the University of Indonesia (UI),
wealthy students need only to score higher than the pass grade
set by the university, have an average of seven on their high
school reports, and be willing to pay an admission fee of between
Rp 25 million (US$2,941) and Rp 75 million.

By comparison, Indonesia's per capita income is about $900 per
annum.

"The high fees will be used to subsidize poorer students,"
said UI spokeswoman Diennaryati Cokrosuprihantono, or Dini, on
Tuesday.

The university has allocated 600 places under the ISP this
year. The students admitted under the program will also have to
pay Rp 7.5 million per semester, more than six times the fee for
regular students.

The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) has set aside 500
places, or 20 percent of the total number of available places,
for students willing to pay a once-off admission fee of Rp 45
million and who have passed the ITB examinations, which includes
written papers and a psychological examination.

Students can register for the examinations between April 26
and June 2, with the tests being held between June 8 and June 10.

Some universities prefer not to set fixed admission fees. For
example, Gadjah Mada University (UGM), which will hold its
admission tests on April 25 and has been registering applicants
since April 1, has asked the parents of all applicants to
determine themselves how much they can contribute.

An applicant said his parents had been asked for Rp 25 million
for a place in the International Relations Department at the
School of Social and Political Sciences.

The university claims the funds will be used to cover the
admission fees of poor students.

"Poor students will have to submit a declaration on their
economic circumstances from their schools, and sub-district and
district heads," admission committee member Toni Apyanto Dharoko
said.

Following their newly found autonomy, state universities
across Indonesia introduced special schemes in 2003 to allow the
offspring of the wealthy to get into college. Despite protests,
the universities insisted the money was needed to provide
adequate services to students following a cut in government
subsidies.

"The money provided by the government only covers the civil
servants' salaries," said Diennaryati. Students pay approximately
Rp 2.5 million per year while in reality a student majoring in
social studies, for example, should be paying Rp 18 million per
year, she added.

The requirements imposed by UI on those availing of the ISP
would be strict, she argued.

"Last year, only 218 of the 700 applicants were admitted,
although our quota was actually 600 students," she said.

Adang Surachman, ITB's deputy rector for academic affairs,
said the institute would not compromise on its standards despite
the special admission program. He said only 250 out of some 2,000
applicants from wealthy families had passed the admission tests.