Hundreds of thousands of high school students across the country will take the most important exams of their lives over the next few months as they compete for limited places at Indonesia’s top universities.
Several universities, including the University of Indonesia, have already held their own entrance exams, but will also accept a limited number of students taking exams run by outside boards.
Students have a choice of two public examination boards.
One of those is the State University Joint Admissions Test, or the UMB-PTN, which is held by the Association of National State University Admissions Tests (P-SPMBN).
The board announced Thursday it would begin holding the exams on May 22. The number of universities that recognize this board increased this year to 12 from seven last year.
Eko Budiharjo, the Semarang (in Central Java) representative for the P-SPMBN, said this year’s UMB would be different from previous ones.
“This year, the test is more about reasoning. The students’ ability to complete their subjects of choice at
universities will be judged by their reasoning,” he told The Jakarta Post.
This year, there are 10,300 places at UMB-participating universities, an increase from 7,793 last year. The number of programs that can be applied for via the UMB has increased to 493 from 291 last year.
However, the UMB board is hoping as many as 90,000 students will take their exams this year.
“So far, around 30,000 have registered,” Eko said, adding that the increase in the number of universities recognizing the exam board was a result of its improved quality.
“They [the universities] might see UMB-PTN’s potential in filtering the students,” Eko said.
To participate in the test, a hopeful must pay Rp 200,000 (US$22.2) for three options of study programs, or Rp 225,000 for four.
State-university applicants can choose to take the State Universities’ National Entrance Exams (SNMPTN), which is organized by the Indonesian Assembly of University Rectors.
Students are permitted to take exams of different boards to enter the same university.
As many as 57 universities will participate in this year’s SNMPTN, which will be held on June 16. Most students who are taking the UMB-PTN will likely also take the SNMPTN.
Head of the 2010 SNMPTN committee Herry Suhardiyanto said that this year the board had an online payment service. Participants can pay via direct transfer through ATMs or Internet banking.
This year, SNMPTN participants are expected to number 400,000 to 450,000, available university seats are around 100,000, he said. Last year, SNMPTN were taken by about 400,000 participants.
The fee to take the SNMPTN ranges from Rp 150,000 to Rp 175,000 depending on the course.
Apart from holding its own placement tests, the University of Indonesia also accepts students taking the UMB-PTN or SNMPTN.
UI spokesman Vishnu Juwono said this year’s quota for students sitting UMB-PTNs or SNMPTNs was roughly the same as last year.
“The quota is around 15 percent,” he said. (dis)
