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No change in university rector selection so far: Tjahjo
Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said on Monday that the university rector selection process "will principally remain the same", with a block vote remaining in the hand of the research, technology and higher education minister.
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In this file photo, Home Affairs Minister Tjahjo Kumolo listens as he joins the meeting with the Special Committee of Elections Bill at the House of Representatives on May 30, 2017. (Antara/Wahyu Putro A. )
H
ome Minister Tjahjo Kumolo said on Monday that the university rector selection process "will principally remain the same", with a block vote remaining in the hand of the Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister.
His statement comes following his proposal of an idea that sparked public controversy last week: to grant the President the final say in appointing a rector.
Tjahjo's proposal will eventually annul the role of the Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister in the vetting process, who, under an existing decree, has a 35 percent block vote in rector elections. The remaining 65 percent block vote lies in the hands of the university senate.
"The selection mechanism will principally remain the same, in which the government delegates its [role in the selection] to the Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister," Tjahjo said in a statement on Monday. "And the majority vote [remains with] the university senate, which will vote in a democratic and independent manner."
But on Monday, Tjahjo also defended his idea of transferring the research minister’s role to the President. He argued that the proposal arose simply as he was seeking to find an answer to the growing challenges the country was facing, including radicalism, terrorism and drug abuse, as he feared that some campuses were becoming breeding grounds for social threats.
Tjahjo later made a new call to create better synergy between rectors across the country and between the central and local governments. (kuk/ipa)
