Universities refuse to stop in-house tests

State-owned universities rejected the government’s plan to stop in-house admission tests, arguing that they relied on higher tuition fees paid by the students in the special admission arrangement.

The University of Indonesia (UI) expects 5,000 new students this year, with only 25 to 30 percent coming from the in-house test, UI spokesman Vishnu Juwono said.

He added that the government should not worry that the system would burden students because UI students admitted by the special admission tests could still apply for tuition relief.

He said if the students could not afford the fee, they could apply to pay by the lowest margin of Rp 100,000 (US$11.10) per semester.

“Our university asks students to pay only about 10 percent of the total education budget needed. For example, a medical student only pays Rp 7.5 million per semester, while the total budget needed per student is actually Rp 58 million. The rest of the money comes from industry partnerships, our own budget and the government’s budget,” he said.

In the transformation to self-funded institutions (BHMN), state-owned universities have found ways to generate income, including setting aside a number of seats for participants outside the regular national admission tests to the universities, a practice since 2004.

Those who take the in-house tests deal with less competition but have to pay higher tuition fees. The universities have also been raising tuition fees in general.

After the Constitutional Court overturned the article on the national education system that mandated the self-funding system, the National Education Ministry planned to eliminate the special admission and compensate the universities by raising subsidies.

Minister Mohammad Nuh said he hoped that by 2012 the special admission tests that raised the cost of higher education would be history.

He explained that the universities’ budget structure relied on public funds (tuition fees), cooperation with partners and the central government.

“The universities have taken the shortcut to finance themselves by raising tuition fees or opening special lanes,” Nuh said on Sunday during an event in Surabaya, East Java.

Nuh addded that the government would allocate an education budget of Rp 248 trillion in 2011, and the budget would increase by Rp 40 trillion to Rp 284 trillions in 2012.

Deputy rector of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) Yonny Kusmaryono said his university would keep the special lane this year as it still needed money to develop new departments.

He added that the number of students from the special lane was not significant and the university still provided scholarships to low-income students and to those with talents and good academic performances.

“Of the 3,400 new students, only 17 percent entered through the special admission test,” he said.

Universitas Padjadjaran (Unpad) Bandung will also hold its special admission test. Allowing for 7,229 new students this year, 64.1 percent of the new students will be accepted from the national entrance test and 35.9 percent from a special test.

Ganjar Kurnia, the Unpad rector, said that his university would keep the special admission since it was still legally allowed.

The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) was the only university, so far, to eliminate the special admissions tests, compensating by inviting more bright students from across the country.

Deputy rector for communications, partnership and alumni Hasanudin Zaenal Abidin said that the enrollment of 3,300 new students this year would use two procedures: the national entrance test and the invitational procedure.

“We will invite bright students from at least B-accredited high schools to join the university. The selection will use reports and the national exam marks,” he said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.