•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   
•    EYEWITNESS   

Surabaya. Indonesia is planning to build two more technology institutes, in Sumatra and Kalimantan, by 2014, Education and Culture Minister Muhammad Nuh said over the weekend.

“It is weird that Indonesia has only two institutes today,” the minister said in reference to the existing Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) in Surabaya.

Nuh said that Sumatra and Kalimantan were chosen because they had the highest demand for engineers and scientists outside Java, adding that construction for the two new institutes would start next year.

Kalimantan is home to a number of oil and gas companies as well as several mining operations while Sumatra is home to some of the biggest oil and gas reserves in the country.

“The exact locations of the new institutes are still secrets,” he said, adding that the new facilities would help boost the number of skilled workers near the sites.

In the long run, Indonesia plans to establish technology institutes in all 33 provinces, Nuh told reporters.

The minister said that at present, only 11 percent of university students across Indonesia majored in engineering and 3.5 percent in science.

“We are trying to increase this number. By 2015, hopefully we will have 15 percent of all students majoring in engineering,” Nuh said.

Curricula for the new institutes will be designed by ITB and ITS, which will also handle the recruitment of lecturers and staff for the new schools.

“We want the facilities to be bigger and more modern than the two existing schools,” Nuh said.

The ministry requires the new institutes to be built on plots larger than 300 hectares.

“Compare [the new plans] with ITS which only has 180 hectares,” Nuh said.

“The plans for the new institutes have many local governments competing to offer their land. In fact, they’ve promised to provide 500 hectares.”

Muhammad Faqih, the second vice rector of ITS, said that the new university in Kalimantan would have a total of 15 faculties under it.

“For the building architecture, will we adjust the design to suit the culture of the surrounding society. So this could become a local landmark,” Nuh said.