University entrance system lacking

University entrance system lacking

Iwan Pranoto

BANDUNG (JP): In Indonesia, most high school graduates plan to
continue their studies. The first choice for the majority of
these students is a state university. However, among the state
universities, there are two "leagues". Of course, the "major
league" universities are the most sought after by the students
and their parents. If they cannot get into a "major league"
university, they usually lower their sights and try for one of
the lesser state universities. Others also try to get into
private universities.

To get into a state university, in general, high school
graduates must take a university entrance test, a UMPTN. This
written test is given annually, and students can take the test in
various cities around Indonesia.

The entrance exam is quite difficult. Moreover, the
competition to get into the top universities is tough. For
example, to get into the Department of Electrical Engineering at
the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) last year, a student
had to score at least 81 percent on his or her entrance test. It
is true that the competition depends on which department a
student chooses, but in general this required score was higher
than at other universities. This strong competition is one of the
reasons why ITB was rated a top university by Asiaweek a couple
of years ago.

The present university entrance system works fine. The
questions on the entrance exam are relevant to the curricula.
Moreover, relatively speaking, we have never heard of the
"leakage" of the test questions. This is of course not the case
with the national evaluation test, EBTANAS, which is each year
accompanied by stories of "leakage".

However, there are two issues concerning the present entrance
system which need to be addressed, and hopefully can be
implemented before the next university entrance exam is given.

The first issue is whether the entrance system itself promotes
academic values. Specifically, does the present entrance system
promote the values which the academic community strives for. For
instance, does the system strengthen the fairness, honesty, trust
and accountability which all universities try to develop among
the academic community?

The previous entrance system in Indonesia did not merely
evaluate the intellectual merits of high school graduates. For
example, on the registration form, each student had to fill in
personal information. This information was in no way relevant to
the students' intellectual merits. The students were required to
supply such personal data as race, religion, sex and so on. They
had to provide this information, otherwise their registration
would have been annulled.

Of course, asking students these questions is completely
wrong. It is inappropriate to ask such irrelevant questions on
the university entrance system. However, did the officials in
charge of the test use this data when they considered whether a
student should be admitted to a state university or not? Did a
student's acceptance depend on this data? The answer to both
questions is yes. Minister of Education and Culture Juwono
Soedarsono and Director General of Higher Education Prof. B.
Soehendro admitted that the data was used to decide whether some
students were accepted to state universities. At least they
admitted that race was factored into the equation of determining
whether a student was accepted.

Moreover, they also admitted that the previous entrance system
limited the percentage of Chinese-Indonesians allowed into the
state universities.

In particular, in July 1998, Juwono increased the percentage
of Chines-Indonesians allowed into state universities from 10
percent to 15 percent. So, clearly, the system did discriminate
against some Indonesian citizens. Amazingly, Soehendro added that
the percentage was quite fair because Chinese-Indonesians were
less than 5 percent of the total population. So, he said,
"Chinese-Indonesians were overrepresented".

In my article in Media Indonesia on July 31, 1998, I stated
that the issue was not how high the percentage was. The real
issue was that labeling one person as the representation of a
certain ethnicity, race or religion was wrong.

We cannot continue these practices. They are wrong. They are
against academic values, and they contradict the practices of
fairness, honesty, trust and accountability. More importantly,
they contradict academic freedom.

In particular, they contradict point five of the Lima
Declaration, which states that "every person has the right,
without discrimination of any kind, to become part of the
academic community, as a student, teacher, researcher, worker or
administrator". The declaration was presented in Lima from Sept.
6 to Sept. 10, 1988, and it was sponsored by, among others, the
UNESCO convention against Discrimination in Education.

It is not know whether other irrelevant data was used to
select students for state universities. It is not know, for
example, whether sex contributed to certain student's acceptance.

It is clear that our previous entrance system did violate the
ideal of academic freedom. If we want to improve the quality of
our institutions of higher education, we must improve our
academic freedom. This means we must improve our university
entrance system, a relatively simple task. We should simply
discard all irrelevant questions.

If we really want to have a statistical analysis of students
entering universities, we can ask for their personal data on a
volunteer basis after they have been accepted. There is no reason
to ask personal questions of those students who are merely taking
the entrance exam. Alternatively, students taking the entrance
exam could be asked personal questions on separate forms which
would remain unmarked, thus allowing the students to remain
anonymous.

It is universally accepted that weak students must be
supported. However, it is wrong to simplistically make it easy
for students from a certain ethnic group to enter state
universities, while limiting the number of students from another
ethnic group.

Similarly, it is wrong to accept a student because of sex or
religion. These practices contradict academic freedom.

The second issue concerning the present entrance system is the
fact that our universities still concentrate on the national
level. Generally, they only consider national students. Our
universities have to expand their horizons. It is time to attract
international students to our universities. Therefore the
entrance system must accommodate international students who want
to study here.

For example, University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta has
already had a number of international students. UGM is a very
strategic institution because much of the research conducted at
UGM has a rich local flavor. Many other universities across the
country have similar advantages.

A university which attracts foreign students will benefit in
many aspects. In particular, the university can improve its
international recognition. This recognition is needed, for
example, in the world of research. This would propel the
university's scientific activities onto the international level,
and the quality of research would improve. Also, students at the
university would create international bonds which would improve
the learning process.

Foreign students will only be able to study in our state
universities if the entrance system provides them this
opportunity. Also, the entrance system must respect the universal
values. Specifically, the system must support the development of
academic freedom in state universities.

The previous entrance system did not support academic freedom.
In particular, the system opened up the opportunity for
discrimination to occur. If we want more foreign students to
enter our state universities, then we must improve the entrance
system so that it promotes our understanding of academic freedom.

We will not receive global acceptance unless our educational
system respects universal values. Also, we cannot develop and
strengthen universal human values if we continue to practice
discrimination. Moreover, government leaders have pointed their
fingers at a neighboring country, saying that the country's
government practiced racial discrimination. Therefore, after
making unnecessary and, possibly, incorrect statements about
another government, is not it the time for us to abolish our own
discriminatory practices which prevent some students from
entering state universities?

The writer is a math teacher living in Bandung

Window: ... the entrance system must respect the universal
values. Specifically, the system must support the development of
academic freedom in state universities.