Scientific Oration of the 62nd Anniversary: Opportunities of Waqf and Syirkah for Higher Education Financing  

Prof. Dr. Asfi Manzilati, SE, ME

Prof. Dr. Asfi Manzilati, SE, ME from the Faculty of Economics and Business delivered a scientific oration entitled “Optimizing Waqf and Syirkah for Higher Education and the Welfare of All”, Sunday (5/1/2025). She conveyed at the Open Plenary Session of the Board of Trustees in the Framework of the 62nd Anniversary at Samantha Krida for the need of a paradigm shift in financing the implementation of Higher Education (PT) which so far has largely depended on Single Tuition Fees (UKT) and non-UKT.

“In fact, UB has developed non-UKT financing since it still had the status of BLU (Public Service Agency) with BUA (Academic Business Entity) and BUNA (Non-Academic Business Entity). In addition, the Rector’s Regulation on Special Income and Expenditure of Certain Funds was also issued, one of the goals of which was to collect income from sources other than UKT,” she said. However, it turned out that it was not enough, since UKT remained the main source of income.

Asfi said that both state and private universities need to develop long-term and stable sources of income, namely waqf and syirkah.

The use of Waqf itself, Asfi said, has been carried out by universities both at home and abroad such as the Islamic University of Indonesia, Gadjah Mada University, Bandung Institute of Technology, Airlangga University. Meanwhile, foreign campuses that use this mechanism are Oxford University, Cambridge University, Harvard University, Nanyang Technological University Singapore, Qatar University, University of Malaya.

UB itself actually has an Endowment Fund program. However, Asfi said that Waqf has more power because the requirement for the assets or objects must have eternal benefits and can be used in the long term. The essence of waqf is the whole principal value, the value of benefit is used as widely as possible for the benefit.

“This waqf scheme will encourage managers or universities to maintain this eternity,” she said.

Meanwhile, syirkah is used for operational management of the university as well as developing income. There are many contract mechanisms that universities can use, including rent, outright purchase with investment of own funds, investment with external funds, and syirkah. Syirkah according to Asfi is seen as the best mechanism since it prioritizes equality and guarantees the downstream process and income in the future.

For state universities, the role of government financing will continue to decline along with changes in status, for example from work unit to BLU then to PTN BH. UB has PTNBH status and has implemented it directly in 2022, the consequence is increased autonomy in organizing educational financing. [sitirahma/UB PR/ Trans. Iir]