University board drains funds
University board drains funds
From Media Indonesia
One of the aims of the establishment of the Coordinating Board
of Private Universities (Kopertis) in the New Order era was to
control the number of students at private universities whose
total was 10 times that of students at state universities.
The concrete form of control is the status of the private
university and its curriculum. In its development the board has
been a big burden both on state funds and on the quality of
private universities. In the final instance, the burden is borne
by private university students and the public.
The waste of public funds is as follows: it is estimated that
many Kopertis teachers are employed as permanent staff at private
universities. The Indonesian Christian University (UKI) has 50 of
them, another 50 teach at Tarumanegara University and some 150 at
Trisakti University. At those universities alone there are
already 250 teachers salaried by the government and employed by
the private universities. If each teacher receives a monthly
salary of Rp 1 million from the government, the public
contributes Rp 250 million a month to the private universities.
How much government assistance is given to, say, one hundred
private universities in Jakarta, and to thousands of them in the
whole of Indonesia? Should public funds be given to such
trustworthy and rich universities like Trisakti, UKI and
Tarumanegara? On the other hand many poor people need funds
urgently. Is the situation just? Is education currently not an
attractive business? As for the academic quality, professional
associations like the IDI for medical doctors, PII for engineers,
ISEI for economists, etc. should supervise the quality of private
universities.
In a meeting of private university teachers, some of them
suggested the dissolution of Kopertis because there are
indications of mismanagement. It is highly unfortunate that the
private university students are resigned and apathetic, showing
no efforts to reform Kopertis.
The dissolution of Kopertis will enhance the capacity of the
community (private universities) and will economize billions of
rupiah a month of public funds. The case of Kopertis is very
attractive material for the media to investigate and to disclose.
HARYO MATARAM
Jakarta