The website of Muhammadiyah Online University. (Screenshot)
Indonesia’s oldest and second-largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, has launched an online university to help the national ideal of developing the nation’s intellectual life.
The launch of Muhammadiyah Online University (MOU) was announced in Yogyakarta during an event to celebrate the organization's 107th anniversary. It was founded in 1912 by Ahmad Dahlan, a Muslim cleric.
The first academic year will start in July next year, with five courses including information technology, management and public health.
“Our team now is looking at possibilities based on existing regulations as to whether MOU can be fully online or can be both online and offline,” Muhammad Sayuti, secretary of Muhammadiyah’s higher education and research and development desk, told ucanews.
He said one of the reasons for starting the university was to encourage more people to enter higher education. Only 34 percent of people aged 19-23 in Indonesia go on to higher education, according to Research, Technology and Higher Education Ministry figures.
“It means more than 60 percent of people aged 19-23 are not in higher education, many of whom are unable to because of expensive tuition fees,” Sayuti said. “Muhammadiyah wants people to have equal access to higher education.”
Sayuti said the online university will be much cheaper than regular ones.
He said his organization, which runs 166 higher education institutions across the country, aims to develop the nation’s intellectual capacity as stipulated in the constitution.
“If people are smart, we do not have to deal with issues like fake news. We want people to expand their knowledge. We want to make this real even though the challenge is not easy as Indonesia has more than 270 million people,” he said.
Franciscan Father Vincensius Darmin Mbula, chairman of the National Council of Catholic Education, welcomed Muhammadiyah’s initiative. "It means Muhammadiyah will become more global,” he told ucanews.
The new university is not the first to offer online courses in Indonesia. Universitas Terbuka, or Open University, whose headquarters are in South Tangerang in Banten province, has 35 years of experience of providing distance learning in higher education.
