Academia
While a public service academy has a place in the education ecosystem, nurturing future leaders that can navigate the country's positioning in the global arena of technology, innovation and business doesn't require building a whole new institution.
Manager candidates of the Red and White Cooperatives march in full camo outfits on July 31, 2026, prior to attending the closing ceremony for the Defense Ministry’s Bachelor of Indonesian Development Drivers (SPPI) degree program at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Force Base in East Jakarta. (Antara/Bayu Pratama S.)
Having taught at Indonesian universities for several years as a foreign academic, I received the announcement of Universitas Republik Indonesia (University of the Republic of Indonesia; URI) with deep concern.On July 22, President Prabowo Subianto installed a retired Air Force marshal to lead a brand-new institution meant to forge the country's future leaders of government and state-owned enterprises.
Officials soon confirmed the real scale of the ambition: not one campus but 10. The first would rise on a former oil palm plantation in Bogor, West Java, funded by the state budget. The model, they said, was loosely borrowed from France's elite civil service academy, Institut National du Service Public (INSP).
