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.