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he Research and Technology and Higher Education Ministry said that students graduating from universities and colleges that were inactive on account of various violations will not receive diplomas acknowledged by the government.

The ministry announced that 239 universities had been deemed problematic and were now inactive, meaning that they would not get services from the ministry such as grant distributions, professor certifications and scholarships. The ministry would also deny proposals for accreditation or new study programs.

The status of a university or college is managed by the ministry'€™s Higher Education Institution Database (PDPT) and information regarding their status is accessible to the public at forlap.dikti.go.id.

The ministry'€™s higher education institution guidance director, Totok Prasetyo, said on Tuesday that students who enrolled at a branch of an unlicensed university would not receive government-sanctioned diplomas.

'€œStudents at those campuses will not be allowed to graduate and their degrees will not be acknowledged,'€ he said.

Totok also said that students of universities suffering from internal management problems would also be prohibited from graduating.

Data from the ministry says there are 3,101 active universities, comprising 121 state universities and 2,980 private universities, under its oversight.

The universities have a total of 6.44 million students and 216,138 lecturers and professors for the 2015 and 2016 academic year.

Meanwhile, the director general of science and technology and higher education institutions, Patdono Suwignjo, said that the number of inactive universities had gone down from the 576 universities it reported in April last year.

Patdono also said that the ministry would ensure that students enrolled in the problematic universities would not be disadvantaged by the situation.

'€œIf an inactive school continues to misbehave and has its permit revoked, then [the university] is responsible for transferring their students to another, similar university. Of course the ministry will assist in this step,'€ he said.

Patdono added that universities that were inactive owing to a lack of lecturers could hire retired professors or civil servants with a masters degree or doctorate if they obtained a registration number for special national lecturers (NIDNK), based on a new ministerial decree issued late last month.

Among the inactive universities was the GICI Business School in Depok, West Java.

Yusril Ihza Mahendra, a lawyer representing the institution, denied that it had committed any violations as described in a reprimand it received from the ministry on Sept. 16.

Yusril said that the reprimand demanded that the institution revoke the diplomas of 422 students who had completed their studies there and make an online announcement that it had failed to fulfill the student capacity requirements.

'€œOur client needs a decree from the minister or from the directorate general of science and technology and higher education institutions so that there is a legal basis for the certificate revocation of 422 students,'€ he said.

The reprimand also prohibited GICI Business School, which was established in 2005, from accepting new students or holding a graduation ceremony.

'€œThe accusations are misleading and a generalization. The accusations placed upon GICI do not make sense,'€ Yusril said.

He explained that the college'€™s main campus and its three other branches '€” in Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor in West Java '€” had fulfilled building requirements to accommodate the number of students they had.

Separately, education expert Darmaningtyas told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the ministry should immediately revoke the permits of private universities that were declared inactive.

'€œIn my opinion, the government should just revoke the permits of inactive private universities because they are not productive,'€ he said.
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