UGM mulls applying single entrance test

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) is considering simplifying its six different selection processes into a system that requires only one integrated entrance test, UGM Rector Sofian Effendi said here on Wednesday.

"The existing system is too complicated," said Sofian, adding that the new system would be applied next year.

UGM currently selects students in six different ways, through a university-organized selection test, region-based selection, selection of regional athletes, partnership selection, domestic cooperation program and a foreign cooperation program.

Sofian said that the new selection system would be used to select students who receive government subsidies and students who have to pay tuition fees in full.

"We need to do that because of the lowering of government subsidies allocated to the university," Sofian said, during a media conference at his office on Wednesday.

The new system will still provide opportunities for student candidates from rural provinces throughout the country, including aspiring athletes.

Those who are recommended by their high schools or regional governments will score additional points for their entrance test, he said.

"That's why I call this an integrated entrance test," said Sofian, adding that such measures would be taken to maintain the university's role as a national university with students from across the country.

According to Sofian, an undergraduate (S1) student pays an average tuition fee of Rp 10 million a year. An UGM student, however, only pays Rp 1.2 million per year.

"That means that the government subsidy for UGM's fees is nearly 90 percent for each student," said Sofian.

Not all UGM students are subsidized, though. This year, for example, only 80 percent of the total number of students at the university receive a subsidy.

"Next year, 70 percent or 60 percent of them could be eligible for subsidies. Who knows?" Sofian said, underlying why the university had to consider requiring some of its students to pay their school fees in full.

"The composition of how many students receive the subsidy and how many pay in full will very much depend on the level of subsidies the government allocates for the university," he said.

UGM currently has 55,000 students.

For the 2002/2003 academic year, UGM plans to receive some 5,048 new students for its 69 study programs, four of which are new study programs.