Several locations at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) used for the 2025 UTBK (Computer-Based Written Exam) of the SNBT (National Selection Based on Tests) received visits from university and faculty leaders. The monitoring and evaluation activities took place on Saturday, April 26, 2025, at the UGM Library Laboratory Building, the UGM Faculty of Psychology, and the UGM Vocational School.
During the visit, university and faculty leaders directly observed the exam process for several participants identified as having disabilities, including hearing and physical impairments—a total of four participants with disabilities required dedicated rooms, special handling, and supervision.
UGM Vice-Rector for Education and Teaching, Professor Wening Udasmoro, stated that the UTBK-SNBT implementation at UGM had run smoothly over the four days. She emphasized that the monitoring visit aimed to evaluate the exam process, particularly for participants with disabilities.
“Together with the committee and the UGM Disability Services Unit (ULD UGM), we have been preparing well in advance to ensure that participants with special needs are comfortable and face no obstacles during the exam,” she said.
In addition to providing services for participants with special needs, the UGM committee also implemented measures to prevent various forms of cheating. To this end, even the UGM-supplied tools were used.
“We want to minimize all forms of cheating,” she added.
Vice-Rector for Student Affairs, Community Service, and Alumni Dr. Arie Sujito added that the ever-evolving technological landscape has prompted UGM to adapt and anticipate potential fraud continually. He also noted that UGM had prepared various facilities to ensure participants could take the exam in a comfortable environment.
“We are committed to ensuring this exam runs properly and without discrimination, especially for friends with special needs, so that they also have good access,” he said.
Director of Education and Teaching, Professor Gandes Retno Rahayu, stated that regarding potential fraud, UGM has implemented strict monitoring and sanctions not only for UTBK-SNBT but also for all selection pathways, including the recently announced SNBP (National Selection Based on Academic Achievement).
“If there’s a discrepancy between the national data and the actual report card scores, we verify it with the school. We conduct focus group discussions with principals. Of all the cases we’ve reviewed, one showed a significant difference between the national data and the actual records, and we disqualified that applicant. The same applies to UTBK—if fraud is proven, we will investigate and disqualify the candidate if necessary,” she explained.
Head of ULD UGM, Dr. Wuri Handayani, emphasized that people with disabilities have the right to proper support during exams. To prevent potential misuse of assistive devices, such as hearing aids used for cheating purposes, ULD proposed placing participants in separate rooms for more effective supervision.
“Disabled participants are also required to submit a doctor’s certificate for the assistive tools they use, issued by government doctors, community health centers, or hospitals,” she explained.
Professor Ridi Ferdiana, Coordinator of UTBK-SNBT Implementation at UGM, reported that 20,615 participants were distributed across 13 locations and 41 exam rooms on campus, with 1,084 proctors involved. For this year’s exam, UGM prepared four servers to accommodate 1,372 users per session and a total of 1,539 computers were made available.
Professor Ferdiana noted that UGM had to update the exam browser application to match the specifications from the central committee.
“There was an application update from the central UTBK committee, but in general, no new procedures were introduced—everything remained the same,” he explained.
He also mentioned that on April 23–24, 2025, during the first and second days of UTBK-SNBT at UGM, high latency issues occurred on servers 3610101, 3610102, and 3610104. The central UTBK team resolved this issue by downgrading to a previous version, from 6.2.13 to 6.2.5.
Although another update from the National UTBK Committee on April 26, 2025, caused a brief issue at the start of the exam, it was quickly addressed.
“Overall, we can say there were no significant obstacles during the UTBK-SNBT implementation at UGM. However, only six of the thirteen locations are currently supported by UPS and power redundancy. Going forward, we need to ensure sufficient UPS systems to meet infrastructure redundancy standards,” he concluded.
Author: Agung Nugroho
Post-editor: Lintang Andwyna
Photographer: Firsto