Govt to retain universities’ autonomy

The government said Monday the new draft law to replace the recently annulled 2008 Law on Educational Entities would retain its provision of greater autonomy for universities in managing their financial resources.  

National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said the move was in line with requests from heads of universities.

“When drafting the new regulation, we must keep in mind the importance of providing autonomy to higher education institutions, both in terms of their academic activities and in managing their financial and human resources, as well as other assets,” Nuh said at a press conference. The conference was held at the Presidential Office after a Cabinet meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to address the issue of higher education, after the Constitutional Court’s had decided to repeal the law last month.

The meeting was also attended by several university representatives, including University of Indonesia (UI) rector Gumilar Rustiwa Soemantri.

Gumilar said universities needed autonomy to help them manage their funding and to improve their quality.
“State-owned higher education institutions are a motor in the national development. Without enough room to move in managing our resources, it would be difficult for us,” he said.

“Entering this era of global competition of talents, we need to continually improve our quality.”

Gumilar rejected allegations that the autonomy would lead to the commercialization of Indonesia’s higher education sector.

“This is not commercialization, but an entrepreneurial university. These days there are no research universities in the world that are not entrepreneurial,” he said.

The 2008 Law on Educational Entities was meant to provide a legal basis for institutions to organize formal education activities, after the 2010 government regulation on education management annulled two 1999 regulations providing a legal foundation for state-owned higher education institutions and those granted with legal entity status.

The short-lived law, however, had often been subject to rejection from students, activists and education observers as it was deemed to legalize state universities’ efforts to commercialize education, despite the government’s continuous denial by citing several articles in the law guaranteeing funding support for underprivileged students.