Trisakti University to launch nationwide search for talent

JAKARTA (JP): Trisakti University is to conduct a nationwide search for talented new recruits, Thoby Mutis, the university's newly installed rector, said on Thursday.

Thoby was installed as the new rector of the private university in a ceremony at the campus on Jl. Kyai Tapa in Grogol, West Jakarta, on Thursday. He replaced Moedanton Moertedjo.

After the ceremony Thoby said the scouting program would seek talented individuals from all ethnic groups in the country.

"Hopefully the program can start as soon as possible. We are in the process of contacting the headmasters of all regional high schools throughout the country," he told the media.

In the past, state universities conducted a similar program in the country's 27 provinces.

Thoby, 51, who graduated from the university's school of economics in 1976, becomes the seventh rector of the 32-year-old university, dubbed the "Reform Campus" in the aftermath of the May 12 incident there that claimed the lives of four of its students.

Among the guests present at Thursday's ceremony was Trisulo, who is chairman of the Trisakti foundation, Ferry Sonneville, the chief of the foundation's honorary council, K. Sindhunatha, who is chief of the foundation's board council for students, alumnae and special affairs, and former rector Moedanton.

Thoby said that besides launching the new program, the university had also taken measures to help students who were having difficulty paying their tuition fees as a result of the monetary crisis.

"Those who are having difficulty paying the fees can pay in monthly installments," he said.

"Once, a student came here with his radio and told us that he could not pay his fees in time. He asked: 'Sir, may I pay the fees on an installment basis and give you my radio first?' We accepted his offer," Thoby said.

Moedanton said payment in installments was introduced in 1997. Students can pay over six or 12 months.

"We allow them to pay in installments, but they have to settle their debts before sitting the final examination," he said.

Moedanton said that despite the crisis, the number of students admitted to the university for the 1998/1999 school year had risen to 5,100, up from 4,015 last year. The university runs 22 study programs.

He admitted the distribution of students across the various programs was not even. "The school of medicine, for example, receives the most students, while the school of landscape architecture and environmental engineering gets the least," he said without mentioning figures.

The school of medicine charges an educational development fee of Rp 12 million, while the school of law charges Rp 3 million, making it the cheapest in the university.

The educational development fee must be paid when students enroll at the university. (ivy)