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Local universities urge level playing field for Monash
Amid competition concerns, local universities have urged the government to ensure a level playing field following a plan by Australia-based Monash University to establish a campus in Indonesia
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span>Amid competition concerns, local universities have urged the government to ensure a level playing field following a plan by Australia-based Monash University to establish a campus in Indonesia.
Private Universities Association (APTISI) chairman Budi Djatmiko said the presence of foreign universities in general would affect competition among top local universities, both private and state-run, that targeted students from middle to upper income families. This would consequently drive those universities to target lower-income students, further affecting smaller universities, he said.
"They [foreign universities] should only offer study programs that aren't commonly available in Indonesia, so that there won't be head-to-head competition [...] otherwise, there will be [market] shifts and consequently, smaller universities won't have students anymore. That's probably what the government wants: for small universities to close down," he told The Jakarta Post on Monday.
Monash Indonesia will only offer Master’s and doctoral degrees, as well as executive programs and micro-credentials, focusing on studies in high demand such as data science, digital technology, creative industry, entrepreneurship, health systems and public health, as well as infrastructure and urban planning.
Although Monash’s Indonesian campus would be a wholly Monash-owned entity, as it is made possible by the Indonesia-Australia Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (IE-CEPA), the university has said that it is open to building research and education partnerships with leading local universities.
The plan to allow foreign universities to operate in Indonesia was first announced by the government in 2018 and it is expected to spur competition and improve the country's higher education by requiring the foreign institutions to build partnerships with local universities.
Indonesia, home to more than 3,000 universities — more than 90 percent of them privately owned — has been struggling to compete globally when it comes to higher education.
The latest QS World University Rankings report by global university rating institution Quacquarelli Symonds placed only three Indonesian universities in its top-500 list, with the University of Indonesia (UI) placing highest at 296th place.
"I hope that the government will first improve private universities' quality before telling them to compete [with foreign universities]. Help these universities prepare [...] Private universities aren't given much attention as most of the higher education budget goes to state universities," Budi said, adding that overregulation had also hampered improvement efforts.
The rector of Bandung-based private university Parahyangan Catholic University in West Java, Mangadar Situmorang, said that Monash's establishment in Indonesia showed that the government did not see education as a cultural process, but rather "a matter of business" as the country offered a potential market for Australia.
Mangadar raised concerns as to whether Monash Indonesia would be treated the same as other private universities, which had to endure "unfair" regulations that put them in the same position as their state-owned counterparts.
Binus University vice rector for academic development Engkos Achmad Kuncoro said that he welcomed Monash's plan to enter Indonesia as it could prompt local universities to improve, adding that it should build strategic collaborations with local universities, such as through lecturer exchanges and research programs.
This was especially because Monash's specialty was in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, specifically biomedics — something that remains relatively rare in Indonesia.
"The government, however, must treat Monash the same way it does local universities. There shouldn't be exceptions given that many local universities also offer postgraduate programs. Competition can only be fair when there's a level playing field; meaning that we should also be treated well so we'll be inspired to get better," Kuncoro told the Post recently.
UI rector Ari Kuncoro, meanwhile, expressed confidence that the plan would only affect private universities rather than top local state universities, arguing that the latter had for long anticipated foreign universities' presence in the country by partnering with top global universities and earning the public's trust.
