Corruption at State University Independent Student Admissions - Tempo.co English

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The order came directly from Higher Education, Science, and Technology Minister Brian Yuliarto. He asked his team to prepare mitigation measures and a review to ensure that illegal fees in the independent track for state university student admissions do not happen again.

Brian also asked his staff to evaluate the independent admission track at state universities. The move followed the arrest of Jenderal Soedirman University (Unsoed) Rector Akhmad Sodiq in Banyumas, Central Java, on Thursday, August 20, 2026. "Hopefully, it will be completed within a month because we need to move quickly," said Tarzan Basaruddin, Expert Staff to the Higher Education Minister, on Wednesday, September 9.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) arrested Sodiq and his subordinates on suspicion of extorting parents of prospective students planning to enter the university through the independent track. Applicants seeking admission had to pay additional sums of money. The payments were separate from the institutional development fee (IPI)—a form of mandatory contribution—already set by the university.

Sodiq allegedly used intermediaries to receive the gratuities. He used money from prospective students to purchase assets. "He ordered other people to buy three plots of land," said Achmad Taufik Husein, acting Director of Investigations at the KPK.