University seats for natural sciences up 10%

University seats for natural sciences up 10%

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesia's 89 state universities will accept 10
percent more students for natural sciences programs this year as
a way of preparing the nation for the stiff world competition of
the future, an official says.

Director General of Higher Education Bambang Soehendro urged
the state universities to effectively make use of their
facilities so they can accept more students without compromising
their standards.

"If necessary, they can open additional classes on the natural
sciences, especially engineering," he said.

Bambang said yesterday that the Ministry of Education and
Culture has instructed all state universities to provide the
extra seats to accommodate the increase of students, which must
first pass the state-held entrance examination in June.

Bagyo Yuwono Moeliodihardjo, the dean of computer studies at
the University of Indonesia, said the planned expansion, which
would entail great changes and adjustment, would not cause any
problems if the universities' capacities allowed for it.

"There are universities which are already overloaded, so of
course they cannot accommodate more students," he told The
Jakarta Post.

He pointed out, however, that there are problems which must be
handled first before a university can take in more students,
including poor management practices, which have caused many
teachers to work only minimum hours.

"To be frank, there are lecturers whose teaching hours are so
minimal that they appear to be unemployed," he said. "If they are
managed better, they will work better and can teach more
students."

He declined to say whether the University of Indonesia is able
to conduct such an expansion, but said that his school has the
capacity to do so.

Seats at the state universities are highly coveted because of
the prestige usually linked with them, the availability of
teachers and the lower tuition fees as compared to private
institutions. State colleges are heavily subsidized by the
government.

Last year, 63,090 people passed the entrance exams for the
state universities, from a total of 412,638 applicants. Of these,
a total of 24,809 people were enrolled in natural sciences,
20,261 in social sciences, 5,683 in the natural sciences teaching
program and 12,337 in the social sciences teaching program.

A total of 43,943 people applied to Gadjah Mada University in
Yogyakarta last year, but only 2,061 were eventually admitted.
The prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology admitted 1,610
students from a total of 36,460 applicants. The University of
Indonesia admitted 1,112 students out of 28,207 applicants.

Bambang spoke about the planned expansion at the Education and
Training Expo '96 being held at the Jakarta Hilton Convention
Center, which was opened by Minister of Education and Culture
Wardiman Djojonegoro.

The exhibition, which is to last through April 30, is joined
by a total of 380 participants from both local and overseas
educational institutions, government offices, and foreign
representatives in Indonesia.

The exhibition is held annually and is usually arranged to
coincide with National Education Day, which falls on May 2. Last
year, 300,000 visitors attended the expo, a significant increase
from 223,400 in 1994. (31)