UI will soon open program of evening courses
UI will soon open program of evening courses
JAKARTA (JP): The University of Indonesia will offer more courses for working people planning to continue their studies, with the opening of a graduate extension program of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences.
"We are giving priority to working citizens and high school graduates who are no longer qualified to take university entrance exams," Budyatna, the dean of the faculty, announced at the Aryaduta Hotel on Friday.
The university already has several diploma programs.
The continuing education program, which starts on Oct. 2 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., will include classes in communications, politics and administration studies. Registration opens on June 15.
"These are the favorite departments judging from applications in previous years, but through the university entrance exams the chances are too small to succeed," Budyatna said.
High school graduates are entitled to take the university entrance examinations twice successively after their year of graduation.
Last year around 422,000 participants took the tests for 61,578 seats at 49 state-owned higher education institutions across the country. Less than 2,500 were accepted for graduate programs at the University of Indonesia.
"It does not necessarily mean that the remainder who failed are stupid," said Budyatna. As in the case of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, space is also a problem, he said.
The new program will be able to take up to 500 students, compared to only around 250 in the regular program.
He added that financial problems had delayed the realization of the program, which is chaired by a noted professor of political studies, Arbi Sanit.
Students of the new extension program will pay Rp 2.4 million (US$1,073.85) per year, while those of the government-subsidized regular program pay Rp 800,000 a year. Scholarships will also be considered, said Budyatna.
The new program, he said, will also be able to "tame our teaching staff" who have so far had to supplement their earnings with jobs off campus in Depok, south of here.
In addition to their civil servant salaries, evening teachers will be paid at least Rp 100,000 per session.
The jobs will go to senior professors, Sanit said, as the evening students will pay higher fees.
However, efforts to improve the regular program will start with "parallel classes" designed to "enhance competition between professors." "We will have up to six parallel classes with different lecturers teaching one subject," said Sanit. This is possible with a total number of 429 teaching staff.
Critics of university education have lamented the frequent practice of both students and professors only relying on summaries of professorial lectures, which have not changed over several years. With competition, Sanit said, professors will design better teaching material. (anr)