In the Southeast Asian region, Indonesia’s rank is still below Singapore (21), Malaysia (38), and Thailand (46).
"To catch up with developed countries, we need more quality human resources," he said in a written statement received on Thursday.
To this end, he praised the concept of equity in higher education promoted by the Indonesian Open University (UT) during a meeting with UT Rector Prof. Ojat Darojat in Jakarta on Thursday.
"The equity in higher education concept promoted by UT as an educational institution that aims to realize better, cheaper, and faster education and reach the unreached becomes a relevant and contextual principle to be implemented now," Soesatyo remarked.
According to him, inequality and limited access to education are one of Indonesia's big problems, as reflected by the gap in the Human Development Index (IPM), which was recorded at 81.11 in Jakarta, but only reached 60.62 in Papua.
This inequality can also be seen in the low Higher Education Gross Enrolment Rate (APK), which stood at 31.18 percent in 2021.
"The education concept offered by UT to invite the nation's younger generation to study in university without being limited by distance and time must be a collective attitude of all higher education institutions spread across the nation," he said.
Moreover, UT currently has 40 service offices, which cover 515 districts and cities across Indonesia.
"It is not strange that UT will be able to serve 1 million students online and offline," he said.
The MPR Speaker also highlighted a number of UT's achievements, for example, its certification by the International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE).
"No wonder UT is viewed as one of the best distance universities in the world so that it becomes a place for benchmarking and an example," he said.
In addition, he noted that the facilities that UT has would be able to make its graduates ready to face challenges in the Society 5.0 era.
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Translator: Gilang Galiartha, Raka Adji
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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