Need Political Commitment to Higher Education

The education budget is not yet optimal and efficient. Affordable education is also desired.

KOMPAS/NIKSON SINAGA

Students of the University of North Sumatra (USU) staged a protest rejecting the increase of the single tuition fee by 30-50 percent at the Office of the USU Rector's Bureau in Medan on Wednesday (8/5/2024).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — Although the government is still focusing on successfully implementing 12-year compulsory education, higher education must also receive serious attention. The government's political commitment must be realized through policies and budget support that ensure universities provide quality, relevant, affordable, and inclusive education services.

The fact that tuition fees at state universities (PTN) are still felt to be heavy, especially for groups of students from low-income and middle-class families, indicates that college is not yet fully affordable for SMA/SMK/MA graduates equivalent every year. In fact, of the approximately 1.1 million recipients of the Smart Indonesia Program (recipients of educational assistance for underprivileged families) at SMA/SMK or equivalent level, only around 18 percent have continued their studies at university. Although there is a guarantee of the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP) College scholarship for underprivileged students, its scope is limited, only available to around 200,000 new students per year.

Also read: Minimum Higher Education Budget, Access to College in Indonesia Still Difficult

When single tuition fees (UKT) or educational development fees (IPI) in a number of PTNs increase in 2024, education financing, especially in college, highlighted and questioned. DPR Commission

Deputy of Human Development, Society, and Culture Development at the Ministry of National Development Planning/Bappenas, Amich Alhumami, acknowledged in Jakarta on Saturday (May 25, 2024) that there are complex priority conflicts in the use of the 20% education budget. On one hand, the government must ensure that 12 years of mandatory education from elementary, junior high, and senior high/vocational school levels can be followed by all school-aged children. In fact, in the National Medium-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2025-2029, mandatory education is extended to 13 years due to the addition of one year in the preschool level. The program coverage includes nearly 60 million students.

Although mandatory 12-year education has been established, to date, the number of children aged 7-18 who are not attending school is almost 4 million people. In the elementary and junior high school education levels, generally, access to education is good. However, in the equivalent level of senior high/vocational school, the gross participation rate (APK) is around 86 percent, but the completion rate is only around 66 percent. In early childhood education, the APK is still around 36-37 percent.

"The prioritization of budget usage indeed needs to be carefully weighed. Especially for the PAUD to upper secondary education level where the population is large and the educational challenges remain complex," said Amich.

No doubt

Despite this, according to Amich, the government through Bappenas has no doubt about the importance of the role of higher education. Because, quality graduates from universities can support the mastery of science and technology to produce innovations that can advance the nation.

Excellent human resources that produce innovation will drive economic growth. As a result, productivity increases and the economy rotates, thus increasing state revenues.

Considering the priority of education and the 20 percent education budget structure distributed among ministries/agencies, local governments, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, subsidies for the operational assistance of state universities (BOPTN) currently only reach about 30 percent. According to Amich, ideally this can reach up to 50 percent.

"The policy of UKT based on students' ability to pay is considered appropriate for sharing the budget burden. Those who are unable to pay receive low UKT and KIP Kuliah, while those with medium capabilities pay accordingly. Thus, state subsidies can help improve access to education for groups that cannot afford it," said Amich.

Also read: Universities Struggle to Meet the Demographic Bonus

Separately, former Chair of the Indonesian Academy of Sciences (AIPI), Satryo Soemantri Brodjonegoro, stated that state universities should be given full autonomy to innovate independently in order to achieve their best performance. "However, the granting of autonomy to state universities for independent governance should not be followed by a reduction in subsidies from the government," emphasized Satryo.

According to Satryo, state universities should not charge tuition fees that are unaffordable for the general public. It is the government's obligation to support financing in state universities.

Satryo added that the government must commit to providing a budget for higher education that focuses on quality. The ideal composition is a government grant of 50 percent, a maximum tuition fee collection from students of 20 percent, and a research grant of 30 percent.

KOMPAS/RONY ARIYANTO NUGROHO

The Working Meeting of Commission X of the House of Representatives with the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, took place in the meeting room of Commission X of the House of Representatives in Jakarta on Tuesday (24/1/2023).

In a working meeting of Commission X of the House of Representatives with the Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Anwar Makarim stated that the principles of fairness and inclusivity are important considerations in determining the tuition fees borne by students through UKT or IPI. To reduce concerns among the public, he ensured that if there is an increase in UKT and IPI set by state universities, the increase will be rational and logical.

"If there are irrational spikes in price increases, we will stop them. We will check for unreasonable price hikes and not rush into large leaps," said Nadiem.

Nadiem hopes for the support of the DPR's Commission X to work together to increase the KIP Kuliah quota that can be accessed by students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds. In terms of numbers, the KIP Kuliah budget has increased by increasing the unit cost of UKT and the cost of living according to the quality of the study program and region, but the quota needs to be increased.

Indeed, the prioritization of the budget allocation must be carefully considered. Especially for the PAUD-secondary education level, with its large population and complex educational challenges.

The Director General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology at the Ministry of Education and Culture Technology, Abdul Haris, said that state universities with legal entities (PTN-BH) are non-profit and do not seek profit. This status actually gives PTN-BH autonomy to establish cooperation, manage perpetual funds, run businesses, and manage assets in order to improve the quality and educational services without relying entirely on tuition fees.

Based on the data, funding for state universities through UKT and IPI educational costs tends to decrease. At the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), the allocation of tuition fees in 2016 reached 43 percent and will decrease to 26 percent by 2023. Meanwhile, the APBN allocation for education costs at ITB will decrease from 23 percent to 18 percent by 2023. Meanwhile, from the revenue side, it will increase to 56 percent in 2023 from the previous 33 percent in 2016.

Member of Commission "Higher education is important to support because it will have an extraordinary impact and will reduce the burden on the country because there will be more and more great people. "Because of that, we need to agree that political will must be strong between the DPR and the government to continue to support improving higher education services," said Fahmi.

KOMPAS/AGUS SUSANTO

Solving practice questions to enter the desired department and campus is a common thing. Various brochures for new student admissions, along with their majors and locations, are collected to provide an idea of the campus that will be selected to pursue future education, on Tuesday (30/1/2024), in Jakarta.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the DPR's X Commission Syaiful Huda stated that through the Education Financing Task Force formed by Commission X, it is increasingly relevant to evaluate the 20 percent education budget from the state's budget. He believes that there is still room to optimize the education budget so that the cost of tuition at state universities becomes affordable and of high quality.

In 2024, the Ministry of Education and Culture only receives 15 percent of the education budget of Rp 665.02 trillion. There are other ministries/agencies that are deemed overlapping and need to be clarified with a 5 percent allocation (around Rp 32 trillion) and non-ministry/agency education expenditure of 7 percent (around Rp 47 trillion). Meanwhile, regional transfers account for 52 percent and financing expenses account for 12 percent.