Joko Yuwono
Head of Master Special Education Program

Regarding disability data collection in HE, I received confirmation through the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs that there is

1. There are 65 ULDs in HE

2. PT has 153 HE Students with Disabilities

3. The number of students with disabilities reached 3,655 students

4. There are regulations that require universities that provide teacher education to include courses on inclusive education in the curriculum. (Article 44). Number of Educational Personnel Education Institutions (LPTK) that teach IE in all study programs. (Higher Education Data, 2022) Educational Personnel Education Institutions (LPTK) are state or private universities appointed by the government to provide Bachelor of Education Programs (PSP) and Professional Teacher Education (PPG) to meet the needs of competent educators in Indonesia. LPTK consists of universities under the auspices of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology and the Ministry of Religion

Can you mention the name, year, institution that issued the regulations regarding the establishment of ULD at HE?

The name of the regulation is: Regulation of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology number 48 of 2023 concerning: Adequate accommodation for students with disabilities in formal early childhood education units, basic education, secondary education and higher education.

I would like to clarify the following points, to know what you mean by mandatory:

Does the regulation have a certain time period (for example, in year xx, yy a number of universities must have a ULD)?

Yes. We can look at the following article:

Article 40

(2) Universities that do not yet have a Disability Services Unit are required to:

a. establishing a Disability Services Unit; or

b. strengthen the functions of units or organizational units that have been formed to carry out the functions of the Disability Services Unit.

Article 41

When this Ministerial Regulation comes into force, existing Disability Service Units in education and higher education services must be adjusted to the provisions in this Ministerial Regulation for a maximum of 3 (three) years.

1. Why does this happen? What are the main obstacles?

The number of ULDs in HE is very small. The issue of education for disabilities in HE does not receive a good response mostly from universities. Apart from that, perhaps the ULD policy in HE is relatively new, there are many variables that cause the implementation of inclusive education in HE to be very minimal. (I will show you some challenge notes in HE).

The implementation of inclusive education in primary and secondary education has been a concern for quite some time through (Permendiknas 70 of 2009) and even in previous years the inclusive education movement emerged. Meanwhile in HE it is still very new, namely the Minister of Research and Higher Education Regulation Number 46 of 2017 concerning Special Education and Special Service Education in Higher Education (State Gazette of the Republic of Indonesia of 2017 Number 926). These two Ministerial regulations are currently revoked and replaced by Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Regulation number 48 of 2023 concerning: Appropriate Accommodation for Students with Disabilities in Formal Early Childhood Education, Primary Education, Secondary Education and Higher Education Units.

2. Are there any consequences if higher education institutions do not follow these regulations?

There are consequences if universities in the next three years do not have ULDs.

Article 28

Paragraph (2) The Minister imposes administrative sanctions on Higher Education Institutions that do not facilitate the establishment of Disability Service Units as intended in Article 15.

Next in Article 29

Administrative sanctions as intended in Article 28 are in the form of:

  a. written warning;

  b. cessation of educational activities;

  c. suspension of Education Implementation permits; And

  d. revocation of the Education Implementation permit.

In the next article related to the contents of article 29, the administrative sanctions mechanism mentioned above is regulated.

3. Are there incentives to actually implement these regulations?

So far I have never heard of any incentives for HE who organizes ULD. However, there are several programs offered by MoECRT related to ULD, although they are still limited. Also providing scholarships for people with disabilities in HE.

For the ULD formation and development program, the Ministry of Education and Culture, through the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs, the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology, is currently reopening the learning innovation and assistive technology assistance program for students with disabilities in 2024. There are 61 universities receiving assistance, which consists of from 28 universities in the learning innovation category and 33 universities in the assistive technology development category.

The Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs also opened a program to help establish and strengthen disability service units in 2024 in universities. There are 48 universities in Indonesia that receive this assistance. 19 universities received assistance in the category of universities that already have ULDs, and 29 universities that will form ULDs.

(Furthermore, I will ask the staff at the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs in more depth)

Who monitors the progress?

Article 25

(1) Ministers, governors, regents/mayors, and the national disability commission in accordance with their authority carry out monitoring and evaluation of Education Units in providing Decent Accommodation for Students with Disabilities.

(2) The Minister and the national disability commission in accordance with their authority carry out monitoring and evaluation of Higher Education Institutions in facilitating the establishment of Disability Service Units.

(3) Monitoring and evaluation as intended in paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) are carried out at least 1 (one) time in 1 (one) year.

(4) The results of monitoring and evaluation carried out by governors and regents/mayors as intended in paragraph (1) are part of reporting on regional government administration.

(5) The results of monitoring and evaluation carried out by the Minister and the national disability commission as intended in paragraph (1) and paragraph (2) are reported to the President.

So far I have seen it only from the Directorate General of Higher Education from the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs. For the National Commission on Disabilities, I’m asking about their role.