The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The board of trustees of University of Indonesia on Wednesday named three candidates to become rector of the state university.
The three candidates are former UI vice rector Soetanto Soehodo, former dean of the School of Social and Political Sciences Gumilar R Somantri and former dean of the School of Public Health Hasbullah Thabrany.
All of the candidates will take part in a public debate on July 20. The candidate who is eventually appointed will serve until 2012.
The three finalists were selected from a list of seven original candidates.
Missing the cut were former dean of the School of Engineering Rinaldy Dalimi, School of Engineering lecturers Tommy Ilyas and Djoko Hartanto, and former dean of the School of Economics Bambang P.S. Brodjonegoro.
All seven candidates were required to present their ideas and goals for the University of Indonesia to the university's board of trustees. The board consists of 21 people, including representatives of lecturers, students, businesspeople and state officials.
Bambang was unable to make a presentation because his flight from the Netherlands was delayed, the chairman of the rector election committee, Asman Boedisantoso Ranakusuma, said.
The university opened the selection process in March this year. Thirteen candidates passed the preliminary administrative assessment. The committee then gave the names to the university's board of trustee, which short-listed seven of the candidates in early June.
Ayu Dewi, a fourth-year student at the School of Social and Political Sciences, said the next rector's main task would be to ensure the continued quality of the education provided by the university, while keeping tuition down.
""The new rector must regard UI as a quality university that also provides education for students who come from poor families,"" she told The Jakarta Post.
This is the second rector election since UI was made a state-owned incorporated entity in 2000. Under this new status, UI is required to be more aggressive in generating revenue after the government began cutting subsidies for the university in 2005.
In the first election Usman Chatib Warsa was elected rector. Usman, who came from the School of Medicine, was the university's 12th rector. He replaced Asman Boedisantoso, who ended his term in 2002.
Since 1950, UI has had two rectors from the School of Engineering, one from the School of Law, one from the School of Letters and eight from the School of Medicine. (10)
