EN.MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, BANJARMASIN – Speaking at the 30th anniversary celebration of Muhammadiyah University of Banjarmasin (UMBJM), Haedar Nashir, President of Muhammadiyah, argued that Indonesia should eliminate the long-standing dichotomy between state and private universities. Instead, he said, both sectors should compete on equal footing to raise educational standards and achieve greater international recognition.
According to Haedar, Indonesia still struggles to place its universities among the world’s top 200 institutions. By contrast, several developing countries have made significant progress.
“Countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates already have universities in the world’s top 200. Singapore is there, Malaysia is there, and even Brazil and Mexico have universities that rank among the global top 200,” he said.
Shift Competition to the Global Stage
He said those rankings should serve as a wake-up call for both public and private universities across Indonesia. Haedar urged Indonesian higher education institutions to move beyond domestic competition and instead position themselves within the global academic arena.
He warned universities against pursuing enrollment growth at the expense of educational quality.
“Universities should not operate like public minibuses, constantly chasing passengers,” Haedar said. “They should not compete to enroll tens of thousands of students if doing so risks lowering academic standards. This also applies to state universities that aggressively pursue ever-higher enrollment.”
The sociology professor stressed that the quality of a university is not determined by the size of its student body. Therefore, he encouraged higher education leaders to carefully consider the long-term consequences of enrollment-driven policies.
“As private institutions, we are not speaking out because we fear losing students,” he said. “We speak because we care about this nation. Both state-owned and private universities have a responsibility to advance education, rather than pursuing goals that are merely artificial.”
Government Policy and Private Educational Institutions
Responding to Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s proposal to establish ten new Universitas Republik Indonesia (URI), Haedar said Muhammadiyah had not yet received sufficient information about the initiative. Nevertheless, he said Muslims are taught to maintain a positive outlook.
He added that Muhammadiyah consistently offers constructive recommendations on government education policies while recognizing that final decisions rest with policymakers.
“Ultimately, those who formulate policy bear public responsibility for ensuring that Indonesia remains competitive on the global stage,” he said.
Haedar noted that government policies affecting higher education inevitably influence both public and private universities. Therefore, he reiterated Muhammadiyah’s long-standing position that no distinction should exist between state and private educational institutions.
“We hope this country no longer maintains a dichotomy between public and private universities, just as there should be no distinction between public and private schools,” he said. “All of them contribute to building the nation.”
In closing, Haedar emphasized that Muhammadiyah established educational institutions long before the Indonesian state itself came into existence. For that reason, he argued, nonprofit educational institutions—whether founded by the government or by civil society—should receive equal treatment under national education policy.
