An Indonesian University Is Accepting YouTubers And Exempting Them From Entrance Exams

An Indonesian university is letting potential students forgo an entry exam if they’re a successful YouTuber.

Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta (UPNVJ) is the first to implement the curious policy. The university’s independent selection committee is accepting students based on “merit,” specifically from creating YouTube content. The catch is, the applicant must have at least 10,000 subscribers and create quality content.

UPNVJ’s rector, Erna Hernawati, said the policy is being implemented to align the university with the spirit of industrial revolution 4.0. “We want our students to be motivated to be more creative. That’s why we’re offering a special acceptance for YouTubers,” she told Tirto.

Hernawati added that applicants under this policy will undergo a strict content curation process by an internal team formed by the campus. Only YouTubers with quality, educational, and useful content will be considered.

“There won’t be any low-quality content,” Hernawati explained, but didn’t elaborate. Will pranks and blatant displays of wealth fall under the category of low-quality content? Hernawati didn’t clue us in any further on that matter.

Some however, are expectedly concerned about this policy. Najeela Shihab, the founder of the Center for Education and Policy Studies (PSPK), hasn’t found a valid reason as to why YouTubers can be accepted into university without taking an entrance exam.

Shihab told Tirto that special acceptance should be given to prospective students who excel in the department or faculty they want to take. Their chance of completing the education will be higher this way, she said.

The 2019 We Are Social report shows that, as of January 2019, YouTube is the world’s most visited website after Google. According to Google’s 2018 research on internet usage in Indonesia, 92 percent of 1,500 respondents see YouTube as the main source for discovering new videos. When asked about usage, 53 percent said they use YouTube every day. In comparison, 57 percent claimed they still watch TV.

The increasing number of active users on YouTube also affects the number of Indonesian content creators. In 2016, there were only two Indonesian YouTubers, Raditya Dika and Edho Zell, who received the Gold Play Button – awarded to channels that reach 1 million subscribers. However, it increased to 15 YouTube channels a year later. In 2018, it rose significantly to 85 YouTubers.

This article originally appeared on VICE Indonesia.