, - The controversy surrounding the single tuition fees (UKT) hike has led Mohammad Nuh to repeatedly receive messages containing clips of Birrul Qodriyyah’s speech recorded in February 2014. Birrul, then a medical student at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, representing thousands of Bidikmisi scholarship recipients from the National Education Ministry, delivered a testimony before President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Nuh, who served as Education Minister at the time. Birrul testified how the Bidikmisi scholarship had enabled him, a son of farmers, to realize his dream of studying medicine.
According to Nuh, scholarship programs like Bidikmisi provide students with tuition relief, enabling those from financially disadvantaged families to pursue higher education. “People miss Birrul’s speech,” said Nuh, who now chairs the Forum of Boards of Trustees of Legal Entity State Universities. Nuh attributed the expensive UKT to universities being pushed to become state universities with legal entity status (PTNBH).
The legal entity status allows the university to have full control over assets and financial management. However, several universities are deemed unprepared to become autonomous institutions. “The easiest way to generate more income is through tuition fees,” he said.
The former Communication and Informatics Minister suggested that the government provide incentives to campuses that have innovative funding sources beyond tuition fees. Nuh cited an example of .