On the 13 July 2012 the Indonesian Parliament passed the Bill of Republic of Indonesia, Year 2012 on Higher Education [PDF 369KB] [RTF 745KB]. The Bill includes several new provisions of relevance for Australian providers who are developing engagement with Indonesian higher education sector.

These include:

• new academic titles in Applied Bachelor, Applied Masters and Applied Doctoral degree for vocational education graduates (Article 21 to 23)
• a National Qualifications Framework (NQF) which becomes the main benchmark in the classification of competencies of academic education, vocational education, and professional education graduates (Article 29)
• requirement for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to provide special education for students with learning difficulties and/or students with special intelligence potentials and talents (Article 32)
• establishment of Community academies that deliver vocational education at the diploma one and/or diploma two level that support local industry skill needs (Article 59)
• autonomy for HEIs in the  conduct of: management; finance; student’s affairs; staffing; and infrastructure and facility (Article 64)
• provision for foreign HEIs to deliver higher education in Indonesia. The Bill sets out a number of criteria that must be met by a foreign HEI to operate in Indonesia. These include a requirement to obtain a Government permit; be non-profit; be in partnership with an approved Indonesian HEI; prioritise lecturers and academic staff of Indonesian nationality and must support the national interests of Indonesia. In addition the Government will be able to determine the region and types of courses that can be provided by the foreign HEI (Article 90).