Universities' new

Universities' new status in spotlight

From Republika

The status change of several state tertiary institutions into legal entities (BHMN) entails the condition that they should become more independent in providing education and enhancing its quality.

Such independence includes the exploration of resources to finance their educational operation and upgrading educational quality. Some BHMN universities have opened a new channel for undergraduates by imposing high admission and tuition fees.

For the 2003-2004 academic year, the University of Indonesia announced that it will accept a maximum of 20 percent of incoming students through this expensive channel, with a guarantee that they will not reduce the quota for regular enrollment.

Some of the requirements for the channel go beyond passing grades, scoring a seven-point grade average and declaring their financial capability to pay for lectures without government subsidies.

This information means that the new policy aims at increasing the capacity of the respective departments. However, transparency and evaluation are required for this purpose.

WAHYU WIDIYANTORO

Jakarta