Looking back to few years ago, our campus was probably the most wonderful campus our country had ever had. It had buildings with unique architectures, surrounded by some green woods that kept the air fresh at anytime, and it even had some lakes! What else could you expect from a campus? Yet, if we take a look at our campus today, it has turned into something even much more than that. If you happen to walk on the small path that connects UI Station to The Faculty of Humanities and lay your eyes to the right side of the way, you can see a pretty large stable that keeps some beautiful deer inside. Not only that, we can even bike our way around campus now, since there is already the bicycle route that connects all the halting places in UI.

These past few years have brought so many changes to our university from the inside out, from its deepest level of administration to its outermost physical appearance. It is important for us to know that those inside-out changes are interrelated. Have you ever noticed the new yellow busses that circulate around our campus lately? I believe everyone has! Those new yellow busses are equipped with the most sophisticated facilities have ever been applied to any school-bus. From the outermost part, those new busses have used the sophisticated-automatic doors that would amaze anyone who are going to get into the bus. The comfortable seats plus the fresh air that flows from the air conditioner make our few minutes of travel with the yellow bus as it were a first-class travel. Not to mention the very entertaining plasma TV that turns the new yellow bus into our second home. Those are some fascinating changes anyone could not possibly miss. However, did you ever notice that some of the busses have the label of some institutions from out of our university? If you do, then it might leave you in wonder of what is actually going on inside of our campus.

At the beginning of this year, our university has officially detached its status as BHMN (Badan Hukum Milik Negara) and put on a new status as BHP (Badan Hukum Pendidikan). That can be a very influential change for our university. With its previous status as BHMN, UI was limited by some pretty strict regulations made by the government. It had restricted the university’s income to its internal income, the government’s grant, and some other grants from foreign countries. This change is a relief to both the university and the government side. For UI, this new status would allow it to cooperate with many other institutions for its benefits, and for the government it’s a release of burden since they won’t have more responsibility to the university.

A change is always followed by two kinds of consequences. At the bright side, the change that is undergone by UI might bring some benefits to us. It can help UI to enhance many of its facilities to support the development of its students. On the other side, it might also bring some negative consequences. The investment from many other institutions from outside of UI might also lead to commercialization for the benefit of the investor. When we are not careful with the treaty, the commercialization can lead us to a loss. Therefore, it is important for us to keep our eyes open to many things that happen around us.

It would not be possible for the outer changes to take over without any changes from the inside. As a change always comes with many consequences either good or bad, the changing status of our university from BHMN to BHP could be something for us to celebrate and at the same time also to be critical of.