“The president is highly concerned about the quality and activities of universities. (President Jokowi) is really thinking about how to improve the quality of human resources," Minister Indrawati stated at the launch of the Merdeka Learning Episode 21 in Jakarta, Monday.
The concern shown by President Jokowi and the government was reflected in the special budget allocation for universities in the form of the education endowment fund.
The education endowment fund had been offered since 2010. As of 2021, the total had reached Rp99.1 trillion, comprising Rp81.11 trillion for education endowment, Rp7.99 trillion for research endowment, Rp3 trillion for cultural endowment, and Rp7 trillion for university endowment.
On the other hand, the university endowment fund was established in 2020, as a means to support the best universities in Indonesia to maintain global ranking in terms of the quality.
Indrawati noted that the university endowment fund was started in keeping with President Jokowi's promise during the 2019 Presidential Election campaign, in which he expressed keenness to improve the quality of universities in Indonesia.
He is keen that national universities become financially independent, as it was also an important factor to improve their quality.
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“How to support? He (President Jokowi) promised in the campaign that he would provide an endowment for higher education," she remarked.
The minister admitted to still having no information regarding the university's endowment fund and its recipients.
However, Indrawati's position as finance minister demanded her to be able to fulfill the campaign promise pertaining to the education endowment fund until it was finally budgeted at Rp7 trillion.
In fact, she planned to increase the university's endowment fund budget this year, but the presidential regulation had yet to be issued when details about the 2022 state budget were established in October 2021.
"There is no legal basis yet. I dare not to allocate more," she stated.
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Translator: Astrid F H, Mecca Yumna
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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