TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Khairul Munadi, the Director General of Higher Education at the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek), has stated that the government is paying close attention to the many complaints about high "development institution contributions" (IPI) at several state universities, including the University of Indonesia (UI) and Diponegoro University (Undip).
The IPI, also referred to as 'admission fees' for new undergraduate (S1) students admitted through Undip's 2025 independent selection process, ranges from a minimum of Rp10 million to a maximum of Rp250 million. Meanwhile, UI has officially set its lowest admission fee at Rp10 million and the highest at Rp120 million.
According to Khairul, the determination of these admission fees is based on the Ministry's considerations, which involve evaluations grounded in the principles of reasonableness, proportionality, and fairness.
"This includes considering the economic capacity of students and those who are financing them," he told Tempo on Wednesday, May 14, 2025.
Khairul acknowledged that several state universities are currently facing fiscal pressures, leading them to seek funding sources beyond the State Budget (APBN). He did not deny that these fiscal pressures stem from budget efficiencies.
Nevertheless, Khairul asserted that this should not justify placing a heavy financial burden on students. "The voices of students and parents are important signals that should not be ignored in the formulation of higher education policies," he said.
Furthermore, Khairul explained that certain specialized study programs, such as medical programs, inherently require relatively high operational costs. In this context, he noted that the high admission fees are often utilized for cross-subsidization, "Where some of the funds from the independent selection process are used to strengthen educational access and quality for students in regular and affirmative action programs."
He emphasized that this mechanism also serves as a measure to prevent social segregation.
Previously, a number of UI students who are part of the Executive Board of the University Student Family of the Faculty of Medicine (BEM FKUI) protested the implementation of admission fees reaching hundreds of millions of rupiah. Through their Instagram account @kastratfkui, they expressed concerns that this amount places a significant financial strain on students.
"The IPI in several study programs is nearly six times the highest UKT cost. However, there was no explicit publication prior to this announcement (SK) regarding the urgency of reimplementing IPI," the account posted on Friday, May 9, 2025.
In addition, in a statement prepared by the Department of Strategic Studies and Actions of the Executive Board, the students urged the university to cancel the implementation of the admission fees.
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