[Unpad.ac.id, 15/08/2016] West Java Governor, Ahmad Heryawan, expressed his admiration upon seeing the establishment process of Multi-campus Universitas Padjadjaran in Pangandaran. Although the plan was just started last year, Multi-campus Unpad Pangandaran had opened registration for new students this year. In response to this, the Governor proposed the idea that Unpad would consider opening multi campus in Bekasi.
“The plan was that Unpad Pangandaran Campus would open in 2017, but it turned out that Rector had taken an initiative by coordinating with related institutions including the Pangandaran Regent. I was surprised when he said that the campus was ready for registration in 2016,” Heryawan said, when attending the opening og Supercamp 2016 held by Unpad in Cimerak, Pangandaran, Saturday (13/08).
Furthermore, Governor said that the comparison between the West Java population and the number of public campuses was unbalanced. In another province, there were three public campuses with total population of 3-4 millions. Meanwhile, West Java, populated by almost 45 million people, only has 5 public campuses.
“That is why I suggested the Rector to build a campus in Bekasi. I could see that he would be ready for the idea,” said the governor.
Pangandaran Regent, H. Jeje Wiradinata, also expressed his gratitude upon the establishment of Multi-campus Unpad in Pangandaran that did not take a long time to build. He wished that by having Unpad in Pangandaran, it would encourage improvements for the Regency to be equal with other developed regencies in West Java and Indonesia.
“I did not expect to have the Governor and the Rector coming 3 to 4 times here in only 2 to 3 months. He informed me that on August 18, there would be an announcement for students admitted in the Pangandaran Campus. It was unbelievable,” said the Regent.
Meanwhile, Unpad Rector, Prof. Tri Hanggono Achmad, said that the principle was that Unpad was encouraging regional empowerment in West Java. By having another campus outside the main campus, it was not only to open study programs, but also to contribute in developing other regions.
“For instance, Kuningan has already had Universitas Kuningan, and Unpad would help the development of the campus. Since Pangandaran has not had a campus, we decided to built the multi-campus. Bekasi, as the Governor said, would be taken into consideration. Every region must have at least one high education institution because of the populous province which means a huge potential that will not be able to be handled by the current number of public campuses,” said Rector. *
Reported by Erman
