August 13, 2025 | 08:00 am
State University of Yogyakarta (UNY) has come under scrutiny after issuing a statement for graduation candidates who will be graduating in August 2025. The statement, posted on the university's student social media @unybergerak, has drawn criticism as its contents are seen as stifling freedom of expression.
In the notarized statement, graduation candidates are presented with three mandatory points. Firstly, the graduates are required to wait for the issuance of their diplomas according to the prevailing regulations. Secondly, they are not to raise concerns regarding any delays in the diploma processing if it is still in progress at PDDIKTI (Higher Education Data System) under the Ministry of Higher Education.
Thirdly, they are not to comment or make any statements related to diploma processing that are disseminated in various mass media and social media. The statement concludes with, "I hereby make this statement of my own volition and without coercion from any party, and am willing to bear the risk of sanctions according to the provisions of the laws and regulations if I breach this statement."
Following its circulation on social media, the statement came under sharp criticism. Some internet users accused UNY of becoming undemocratic and silencing its students.
In response, UNY spoke out. "The statement has been revised due to editorial errors," said Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of UNY, Nur Hidayanto Pancoro Setyo Putro, on Tuesday, August 12, 2025.
Nur explained that the statement was initially drafted by the legal services department, resulting in a rigid editorial that sparked negative perceptions. As a result, the statement was decided to be revised with a more persuasive language by removing the three contentious points.
In the revised statement, the wording changed to "(Graduates) are willing to participate in the August 2025 graduation without demanding their diplomas immediately as they are still in the process at PDDIKTI. I hereby make this statement of my own volition without coercion from any party."
Nur then divulged the reasons for the university's issuance of the controversial statement. One of the reasons is the backlog of over 2,900 diplomas for the February and May graduates that have yet to be issued, especially for those graduating in August.
He speculated that the delay in diploma issuance is due to external factors such as curriculum transition and data synchronization, which has led to a significant backlog of diplomas. This is true both within the university and at PDDIKTI.
Through the statement, Nur stated that the university is actually trying to expedite the issuance of the graduates' diplomas. However, the timely issuance of the diplomas is hindered by factors beyond the university's control.
"With the PDDIKTI and PISN (National Diploma and Certificate Numbering) systems possibly undergoing maintenance, it is difficult for PISN to be issued within a week," he said.
'The system has been down for a week, and sometimes the PDDIKTI system is down for 10 days, so there are both internal and external factors that we cannot control in the Jakarta system,' he added.
Nur mentioned that through the statement, UNY is attempting to facilitate its students who have completed their studies and examinations to graduate earlier. In some other universities, students can only graduate once their data is entered into PDDIKTI and their diplomas are issued.
"In UNY, we are trying to assist (expedite) so that students don't have to pay the next semester's tuition fees, if they finish their studies and exams today, they can be judicated the next day and graduate two weeks later, this does not happen in other universities," he stated.
Nur explained that UNY could also adopt the policy where only students whose diplomas have been issued are allowed to graduate. However, this would result in students having to pay the semester fees again.
In addition, through the statement, the university hopes that no students will be affected by the drop-out policy. There are still students from the 2018 intake who, if they do not graduate in July 2025, or after seven years of study, will be subject to this drop-out policy.
"So the statement was made as an option, especially for students who want to graduate earlier," he said.
The option referred to, is that if students wish to graduate before their diplomas are issued, they can fill out the statement. "If they do not want to graduate early, it's also fine, they don't need to fill out the statement," he said.
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