UI adult program has a lot of weaknesses: Dean

JAKARTA (JP) : Dean of the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences M. Budhyatna admitted yesterday that the adult education program, opened by his school this year, has a lot of weaknesses.

"I'm not making any excuses. I admit the program has weaknesses," he said. "I realize that the enrollment was a little out of control."

He made the statements during a dialog with students, who have been protesting against the program since last week.

The school's adult education program has been the target of a series of protests after it administered a much simpler entrance requirement, allowing new high school graduates to enter the program without any enrollment tests. Usually any extension program in a state university accepts workers only and requires applicants to pass an entrance test first.

The poor procedure sparked anger among regular undergraduate students, who are required to pass a highly competitive national university exam to gain admission. On Sept. 5 students started a camp strike.

The program's procedure was also questioned by officials of the school's sociology department and social welfare department. Both departments sent the dean strong letters of protest.

Budhyatna said that the poor procedure was caused mainly by the fact that it was prepared in a hurry.

The dialog between the school's representatives and the protesting students went on behind closed doors. Reporters and students, who were not members of the school's student body, were forbidden from entering the tightly guarded meeting room.

"The dean has broken his promise. This should be an open forum not a closed one," Nono Marijono, one of the ringmasters of the student demonstration, protested.

"We still demand an open forum," he said as he showed The Jakarta Post a petition signed by 180 students disappointed by the dialog's secrecy.

The results of the dialog turned out to be satisfying to some students. "I'm satisfied that the dean principally accepts our demands," Selamat Nurdin, the chairman of the school's student senate, said. "Our target was to make him say that he was wrong and correct the program's mistakes."

Budhyatna confirmed that he has accepted the students' seven demands, including an open apology from the dean to the academic society of the school, a promise that the regular academic programs would not be affected by the extension program and only enrollment of applicants who have obtain 110 credits from previous schooling and pass a qualification test. (06)