Padang, West Sumatra (ANTARA) - The Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry will give universities slapped with severe penalties six months to fix their issues and prevent their operational licenses from being revoked permanently."Every university that has been imposed with a severe penalty will be given six months to fix the problems that they are encountering," ministry official Lukman(one name) informed here on Thursday. If the universities manage to fix their issues, then all their rights will be restored by the ministry, including the license to accept new students, he said. "However, if within that period, they cannot fix their problems, then we will revoke their operational license," he added Before revoking the operational licenses, the ministry will conduct a review. Afterward, it will decide whether to impose a mild, moderate, or severe penalty. Cases of mild penalty will be handled by the High Education Service Institution (LLDIKTI). If the issues can still be mediated, then they will not need to be reported to the central authorities and the universities will not see their operational licenses revoked. However, if the violations are severe, then they would need to be directly handled by the ministry. Universities that have committed severe violations will not be allowed to accept new students, they will not receive assistance, and they cannot hold graduations until the problems are resolved, he informed. Meanwhile, head of X Region LLDIKTI, Afdalisma, said that private universities should be closed only after an in-depth study, which must include monitoring by a performance evaluation team and the ministry. "It should be remembered: closing a private university cannot be done immediately, there has to be an in-depth review," the official added. Related news: Ministry, varsity ink MoU on human resource development

Source: Antara News Agency