Universities urged to make reforms
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)