Devi Asmarani, Jakarta – Prestigious state-run universities are being criticised for their decision to admit students who fail entrance exams, as long as the students fork out millions of rupiah in donations.

Several of the country's 48 state-owned universities, including the University of Indonesia (UI) in Jakarta, the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta and the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) in West Java, now offer a "special entrance way" for those from affluent families.

Under this system, the students do not have to take the highly competitive National Exams for State University Entrance. Instead they go through a "talent, motivation and potential screening system" at the respective universities, and, if selected, pay the required amount to the respective schools.

The amount ranges from 25 million to 150 million rupiah, depending on the school and the faculty the students are applying for.

Highly coveted disciplines are priced higher. For example, an entrance to the School of Medicine at the Diponegoro University in Semarang costs 150 million rupiah per student while its School of Engineering charges 100 million rupiah.

The highly prestigious ITB even offers 10 available places in its Physics Department for US$25,000 per student. UI currently allocates 20 per cent of its 3,000 places to students from this "non-regular entrance system", while ITB said it would accept 200 to 500 such students.

This new system was put in place following the government's decision to change the status of state-owned universities to state-owned companies last year, thereby giving the universities more autonomy to run their campuses.

Cash-strapped universities said the programme would help inject much-needed funds into their organisations without having to raise tuition fees, which are currently very low across the board.

UI's public relations coordinator Diennaryati Tjokrosuprihatono said the limited government subsidies and the low student tuition fees could barely cover the schools' operational costs.

But some people fear the commercialisation of the universities would lead to lower standards. Besides, they say, it may deprive less well off but more capable students opportunities for low-cost education.

Parliamentarian Ferdiansyah said: "This is like sowing the seeds of discrimination and exclusivity in campus life. Even if the students have to go through selection, it will be hard for the universities to remain objective. In the end, the priority would be given to those who come up with the largest bid."

Even some of the students who would benefit from such a scheme are disapproving. Achmad, a second-year student at UGM, said: "I was proud to have passed the exam to come here. But if people can pay to go to school here, I'll probably have nothing to be proud of."

Hundreds of thousands of high school graduates across Indonesia usually take entrance tests for state-owned universities in July. This year, the 48 state-run universities have just 82,959 available places, making the tests very competitive.