T

here has been a mixed reaction to the government'€™s plan to overhaul the management of the country'€™s privately run universities, with one expert warning the initiative could backfire and compromise the quality of education provided to students of private colleges.

Education expert, Darmaningtyas said on Tuesday that the plan would do more harm than good to the quality of privately run universities in the country.

'€œI disagree [with the plan],'€ he said in Jakarta.

Last week, Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir revealed a plan to abolish the Kopertis (Private Higher Learning Institutions Coordinating Bodies), which were established by the government to manage private colleges and universities. The country is divided into 12 regions each overseen by a Kopertis.

As their replacement, the ministry would set up a new body called the National Higher Learning Institutions Service Body (LP2 PTN), tasked with managing both state and private universities, he said.

'€œIn terms of regulation, there are indeed still many problems needing to be fixed. Efforts to fix these problems will be made through the LP2 PTN. How to develop and manage state universities and private universities will also be part of the role of the planned agency,'€ said Nasir.

The ministry also plans to establish a mechanism that would allow closer communication between private and state universities.

The disbanding of the Kopertis would leave private institutions to their own devices dealing with their own problems.

'€œIf the Kopertis are to be abolished while state universities get bigger budgets, where should the private universities look for help?'€ he said.

Darmaningtyas also said the ministry'€™s plan to establish a new body to accommodate private universities'€™ needs would not be enough to fill the void left by the abolition of the Kopertis.

'€œI doubt if the LP2 PTN could be objective. How could it represent equally both state universities and the private ones?'€ he said.

Darmaningtyas suggested that it would be better for the ministry to tighten the regulations for the issuance of permits for private universities.

'€œThere are too many private colleges, and their quality also varies wildly. More than 50 percent of private universities are of a poor quality and if the government wants to help private universities, there will be more problems because there are just too many of them.'€

The ministry'€™s data shows that there are more than 3,000 private institutes of higher learning in the country.

'€œIdeally, in order to establish a new private higher-learning institution, one should meet strict requirements as stipulated in Law No. 12/2012 on higher education institutions, such as size, number of classrooms and the total number of students, among other things,'€ said Darmaningtyas.

Another education expert H.A.R. Tilaar, however, has supported the government'€™s plan, saying that it would bridge the gap between the state and privately run universities.

'€œThe Kopertis consist of people from state universities, which is strange because they'€™re the ones who give accreditation to private institutions,'€ he said on Tuesday.

'€œFor example, there are some good private universities, such as the Satya Wacana Christian University in Salatiga, Central Java. But it is being accredited by people from local state universities whose standards are lower than that of Satya Wacana.'€