Universities urged to make reforms
JAKARTA (JP): A senior official called on universities yesterday to immediately reform their practices to meet client demand and to increase the quality of graduates.
Higher Education Director General Bambang Soehendro said that universities should evaluate their programs, practices and the quality of their graduates to ensure they meet the demands of the nations communities, work force and government.
"So far, only one percent of the country's universities conduct evaluations in order assess performance in relation to demand," Bambang told some 150 participants, mostly education experts at a two day seminar on The Management of Higher Education: Anticipation of the Year 2020.
The seminar was organized by Trisakti University, Indiana University, and Malay University, and attended by Trisakti rector R. Moedanton Moertedjo.
Client interests should be the primary focus in both education planning and program delivery at universities, and it is essential that universities produce quality graduates for the business sector, he said.
"Universities should reform their management to meet future demand," he said.
Currently demand for some programs cannot be met due to limited places, forcing students to take whatever programs are available, mostly in the social sciences.
As a result, there are a lot of social sciences graduates in comparison to the number of natural sciences graduates, who make up only 25 percent of total graduates, he said.
"Now, there is a gap between universities output of graduates and the community demand for places," Bambang said.
"Private university management bodies should take the opportunity to provide the sought-after programs," he said
He said staff needed to be considered in the reform of universities and lamented the current lack of 'academic environment' at universities because lecturers usually teach in more than one university.
"How can lecturers commit to the university if they are busy trying to manage their own schedules?" Bambang asked.
Current education ministry data recorded there are 47,000 state-owned universities lecturers and 9,000 private universities lecturers.
The government sets regulations for the supervision of universities and has developed a national accreditation system, he said.
"This year, the accreditation board is planning to evaluate about 1,500 universities, private and state-owned universities, and specialized training academies," Bambang said.
The number of private universities has increased from 1,076 in 1993 to 1,228 this year, while the number of state-owned universities has remained at 76. Indonesian universities are predicted to have graduated 5.5 million students by the year 2020. (ste)