PORTALJABAR, BANDUNG CITY - Deputy Governor of West Java, Erwan Setiawan, is pushing for an equal distribution of Private Universities (PTS) across all regencies/cities in West Java. Currently, of the total 350 active PTS, most are still concentrated in big cities.

Erwan conveyed this after attending the Halal Bihalal Idulfitri 1446 H with a number of PTS associations at the APTISI West Java Building, Thursday (17/4/2025).

"We hope that PTS can be built in areas that still have few or no universities, especially in the regions," said Erwan.

According to him, the existence of PTS in remote areas is very important to provide more equitable access to higher education.

In addition, this will also reduce the burden of education costs for people who have had to migrate to big cities.

"If people move to the city just to go to college, of course the costs will be more expensive. So, the best solution is to provide PTS in the regions," he explained.

Erwan emphasized that the West Java Provincial Government will continue to coordinate with the PTS association to accelerate the realization of this equalization.

The goal is to improve the quality of human resources evenly throughout the region.

"We will continue to collaborate with PTS to improve the quality of human resources by equalizing PTS," he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of APTISI Jabar, Eddy Soeryanto Soegoto, welcomed the encouragement. He stated that he was ready to strengthen coordination with PTS leaders to encourage equal distribution of higher education in West Java.

"Our task as PTS leaders is to build solid cooperation, including collaboration with local governments," said Eddy, who also serves as Chancellor of the Indonesian Computer University (Unikom).

Eddy added that currently the quality of PTS in West Java is not inferior to state universities (PTN), some are even of international standard and produce competitive graduates.

"We hope that PTS will continue to be a leading university whose quality is not inferior to PTN and that has been proven until now," he said.