Indonesia lacks universities for grads

JAKARTA: A lawmaker from House of Representatives Commission X on education, Reni Marlinawati, said Saturday that she hoped the higher education bill, once passed, would create a more effective higher education system that could absorb more high school graduates every year.

According to Reni, about 1.4 million graduates from high school every year, but there were just over 200,000 places available in state universities.

“This means almost 1.2 million prospective students can’t be accommodated at state universities every year,” Reni told The Jakarta Post.

She added that only 30 percent of that number, or around 360,000 students, could afford to attend private university.

Reni added that the current Commission X deliberations on the higher education bill included the issue of creating a more affordable higher education system and a yearly government program to disburse as many scholarships as possible. — JP