Prabowo Will Build 10 New English-Standard Campuses, Focusing on Medicine and Science

JAKARTA - President Prabowo Subianto has stated the government's plan to build 10 new universities focusing on medical, dental, pharmaceutical, and science and technology education. The construction of the university is aimed at meeting the national need for doctors and medical personnel who are still very limited.

The plan was conveyed by President Prabowo after attending the UK-Indonesia Education Roundtable forum in London, England, Tuesday, January 20 local time. On that occasion, Prabowo also appreciated the dialogue and meeting with the leaders of leading British universities that are members of the Russell Group.

The Russell Group is an association of 24 prestigious research universities in the UK, including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Imperial College London. The meeting reflects the commitment of Indonesia and the UK to strengthen cooperation in the field of education and human resource development.

President Prabowo highlighted the limited number of medical personnel in Indonesia. Currently, Indonesia only produces around 9,000 doctors every year, while the need continues to increase as the population grows and many doctors enter retirement.

"We only produce about 9,000 doctors every year. So we don't know how many years, and when we reach 140 thousand doctors, more and more doctors will retire. This is something we have to do with a strategic plan," said Prabowo.

He conveyed the government's desire to cooperate with leading British universities in establishing these new universities. According to Prabowo, British universities have experience working with a number of universities in Indonesia, such as the University of Indonesia and Gadjah Mada University, and have opened campuses in several areas.

"They have worked a lot with UI, Gadjah Mada, and many other universities. They also have campuses in Indonesia, in Singosari and Bandung, in areas that we need such as digital and technology," he said.

The President emphasized that the new universities that will be built in the future are expected to implement British standards of higher education.

"I want to use the British standard, namely the highest education standard from the best universities in England," said Prabowo.

He added, the government wants to accelerate the improvement of the quality of higher education so that it is on par with the world's best universities. These universities will receive the best national graduates who will receive full scholarships from the government.

In addition, Prabowo also stated that Indonesia is open to accepting lecturers and professors from abroad to support the improvement of the quality of national education and health services.

The President is optimistic that the new universities will be able to accept students by the beginning of 2028.

"In early 2028, we can have the first group of students. The plan is, we will build one university area and guarantee the quality of life, safety, and security of all campuses to attract foreign lecturers to work in Indonesia," he said.