TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
ITB faces backlash for requiring scholarship recipients to work part-time
Change text size
Gift Premium Articles
to Anyone
Share the best of The Jakarta Post with friends, family, or colleagues. As a subscriber, you can gift 3 to 5 articles each month that anyone can read—no subscription needed!
This undated handout photo shows buildings at the Bandung Institute of Technology's (ITB) campus in Bandung, West Java. (Courtesy of ITB/-)
T
he Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in West Java has come under fire over a recent policy that requires students receiving tuition fee reductions to work part time on campus, with education experts criticizing the requirement as inconsistent with prevailing regulations and showcasing power relations between the university and its students.
Under the ITB’s new policy, which was circulated on social media this week, students who have already received their single tuition fee (UKT) cut and those who want to apply for the discount would be required to undertake unpaid part-time work such as by becoming teaching assistants, handling administrative tasks and tutoring fellow students in return for the financial support.
The policy further elaborated that the university would evaluate the financial aid which has been provided should the students refuse to participate in the work. There will be a possibility of discontinuing the tuition fee reduction.
Such a controversial regulation has quickly sparked backlash from representatives of the institution’s Student Executive Body (KM ITB), who staged a protest in front of the rectorate building on Thursday.
They urged the university to repeal the part-time work requirement, and to involve student representatives in all policy formulations concerning student affairs in the future.
“The university does not appear sincere in granting a fee discount when it is actually the right of the students to access education at affordable costs,” KM ITB head Fidela Marwa Huwaida said in a press release.
Read also: Nadiem cancels university tuition hike
