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View all search resultsNadiem's campus reforms have yet to address student exploitation during internships
Interning students are overworked and underpaid – or sometimes not paid at all – at several firms in the country.
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University students are engrossed in an experiment in a campus laboratory. Students are expected to prove their competence but often become victims of workplace exploitation during internships. (Antara/-)
W
hile getting praise for granting campus autonomy through the Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus) policy, the Education and Culture Ministry has been criticized for failing to address student welfare during internships.
After the Merdeka Belajar (Freedom to Learn) reforms aimed at schools, Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim debuted Kampus Merdeka, another liberating policy for higher education.
The minister issued five new ministerial regulations this year to accommodate four reforms in universities: autonomy for universities to establish new programs, easier requirements for state universities to become legal entities, a new accreditation system for higher education programs and students’ right to take up to three semesters studying outside of their program. The last regulation has drawn the most attention as it directly affects students.
The three-semester program is not mandatory. But any interested student can spend one semester in classes within other programs at the same university and can take two semesters to study outside campus through an internship, student exchange program, research opportunity or community service initiative.
The policy, however, has yet to address the safety of students during internships. The positions are prone to exploitation.
Prisa, whose name was changed for this report, was a fresh graduate from a campus in West Jakarta in 2017 when her lecturer offered her an internship at his new law firm in Jakarta.
“At first I applied because I wanted to learn and seek experience, but I was surprised by the workload. I was given real, tough cases to be solved on my own. Definitely not an intern job,” she told The Jakarta Post.
