Budget Cuts, Ministry of Science and Technology Prioritizes Public Services and Bureaucratic Reform

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – Public services and bureaucratic reforms within the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology are expected not to be disrupted by the budget cuts amounting to approximately Rp 22.5 trillion in accordance with Presidential Instruction Number 1 of 2025. The use of the Ministry's budget this year will be optimized by considering the regulations, Asta Cita, and ongoing programs.

"The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology continues to prioritize public service and more efficient bureaucratic reform, while remaining agile in serving the public," emphasized the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Togar Mangihut Simatupang, in Jakarta, Friday (February 7, 2025). The budget of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology that was cut this year is approximately 39 percent of the total budget ceiling of Rp 57.6 trillion.

According to Togar, the legislation that is being considered is the obligation to spend on education. Then, related to Asta Cita, access, quality, and relevance of higher education in the President's work program, including pre-university such as elite schools and teacher education, are also taken into account.

Meanwhile, the ongoing programs include lecturer certification, the Indonesia Smart Card (KIP) College and Higher Education Affirmation scholarships, improvement of university quality, continued infrastructure, and performance allowances.

We also ask all levels of state universities and Higher Education Service Institutions to carry out efficiency.

Togar stated that the guidelines in the Ministry of Finance's letter are used as a reference for optimization. Efficiency can be achieved in operational activities. The first round of efficiency measures ranges from Rp 3-6 trillion with a conservative scenario.

"We also request all state universities and Higher Education Service Institutions to carry out efficiency measures according to their respective contexts while maintaining public services and bureaucratic reforms, including the application of technology and reviewing work processes to be more effective and efficient," said Togar.

Separately, the Executive Board of the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education (BAN-PT) Ari Purbayanto stated that the budget cuts for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology will also affect BAN-PT.

"If the reduction is 50 percent, then the accreditation process through Adequacy Assessment (AK) and Field Assessment (AL); instrument development activities; assessor refreshment; as well as office management and operations will not be able to meet the target. It is certain that it will only meet 50 percent of the target based on the original budget in 2025," said Ari, who is also a Professor at IPB University.

The restriction of official travel out of town can also impact the full implementation of on-site accreditation. "In fact, we also cannot make payments for the honorarium of assessors and BAN-PT personnel. Because the honorarium component is still blocked, hopefully, the block will be lifted soon. If not, then accreditation activities could come to a complete halt," said Ari.

If the honorarium block is opened, activities can resume with the same strategy as was previously carried out during Covid-19, namely direct online accreditation without field visits.

According to Ari, the budget for accreditation of higher education institutions included in the national priority program (National Strategic Program) should not be reduced. This is because the budget requirement for BAN-PT each year is only around Rp 50-70 billion per year. This amount is not large enough to carry out the accreditation of 4,409 higher education institutions and around 8,000 study programs.

"If it is indeed no longer possible to reduce the BAN-PT budget, then the extension of the accreditation status of higher education institutions and study programs through monitoring and quality evaluation without assessors based only on performance data presented in the Higher Education Database needs to be implemented immediately this year," said Ari.

Ari hopes that the budget to run the newly launched online accreditation system during the 30th anniversary of BAN-PT on December 13, 2024, will be available.