Indonesia’s Higher Education in Transitional Period
The higher education world in Indonesia is shifting. Whether we like it or not, we are forced to change our educational system. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to implement long-distance learning.
By
CW Watson
·6 minutes read
The higher education world in Indonesia is shifting. Whether we like it or not, we are forced to change our educational system. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to implement long-distance learning.In the beginning, many of us felt awkward and nervous when interacting with students in Google Classroom or when having meetings with our colleagues via Zoom. However, we have slowly adapted to this new condition. Although we still believe that face-to-face interaction with students in the classroom is more optimal, we have realized that there are also benefits in utilizing this distance-learning method.
One of benefits is that students are more inclined than before to learn independently. This is an improvement that should be acknowledged. Usually, students\' reluctance to learn independently and read referenced books are the Achilles heel of Indonesia’s higher education when compared to other countries.
Students used to think that knowledge (and a diploma) that they pursue at a university can easily be obtained just by diligently attending lectures and tutorial sessions as well as memorizing the material taught to them in a classroom setting. Now, under the lecturers’ guidance, they have realized that what they learn independently outside the classroom is as important or even more important than what they receive in class.
Courage to reform
One of the drivers of reform in Indonesia’s higher education is the Education and Culture Ministry’s new perspective, in particular the call for establishing Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus). It emphasizes that students need future-proof education that could help them to adapt to the current and future challenges, while also contributing to the creation of a just and prosperous state based on Pancasila. Who would dare to disapprove of this noble dream?
Nevertheless, these new steps are still too uncertain and half-hearted as policymakers are still haunted by the burden of the old system. Even with changes in teaching platform through the distance learning method and the push for students to take subjects from other majors or even other universities trough Kampus Merdeka, both students and lecturers are still trapped in a system that forbids them from reaching the desired growth.
Among the things that haunt the higher education world and hinder it from progressing is the desire to score a high position in the World Class University (WCU) rank. This is an effort that needs to be seriously reevaluated, especially when seeing how this ambition has sacrificed students, lecturers and even the true quality of Indonesia’s higher education.
If the policymakers are brave enough to escape the past and take firm and swift action, the changes could yield outstanding results. The keyword here is the courage to reform. Kampus Merdeka needs to be implemented through real actions, not through words.
As a first step, universities need to be given autonomy, not the half-hearted ones like now, but autonomy as seen in Harvard, Cambridge, Wageningen and MIT. They could be our role model to learn from, while still keeping in mind the local context in Indonesia.
However, for the time being, there are several things we could do while waiting for these absolute changes in the system. First, the semester credit system (SKS) and the awarding of credits for each course needs to be simplified.
Sacrificing students and lecturers
Standardizing the credit system will help us tremendously when transferring from one university to another. The current system, which counts the total amount of contact hours, independent and guided study hours, etc. as mentioned in the ministerial regulation, needs to be abolished.
We need to realize that the teaching methods for natural sciences are different from those of arts and humanities. For arts and humanities as well as most social sciences, students need to read more, write more essays, and prepare presentations to sharpen their writing and communication skills.
The purpose is so that they could become a leading actor in their profession, whether as employer, entrepreneur, civil servant, teacher, lawyer, researcher, journalist, or other professions. Acknowledging this, the higher education institutions in the UK believes that it is necessary to give students enough time to read and think critically on their own.
Each semester, students will only take four intensive courses: each course consists of ten hours of student work. Out of ten, only two to three hours are used in classrooms while the rest are reserved for carefully reading the literature, taking notes, preparing to participate in the tutorial discussion (which has less than 20 students) and to write essays.
In my observation, this is vastly different from the condition in Indonesia, where to fulfil their SKS requirements, students often have to take more than six courses per semester. This makes it impossible for them to gain a deep understanding, knowledge, and skills, in particular the desired writing skill.
Furthermore, the obligation for students to work on a final project in their last year also needs to be evaluated. Australia and the UK do not have this requirement for graduation. Instead, students who want to take the extra challenge are allowed to take this final project as an elective course.
There is usually only around 10 percent of students who choose to take this option. These are the students who aspire to become lecturers or researchers, while others think that they could benefit more from taking electives that are more suitable for their interest and future career. The mandatory final project system in Indonesia puts a burden on both the students and the lecturers, victimizing the core of the learning itself.
The obligation is reportedly introduced to raise Indonesia’s ranking in WCU.
Related to the final project requirement, we also need to examine the mandatory journal article submission for master’s students and doctoral candidates. This obligation has often been criticized by senior lecturers, including Professor Franz Magnis-Suseno. The obligation is reportedly introduced to raise Indonesia’s ranking in WCU. The more publications, the higher the rank will be. This is incorrect.
This obligation has become a highly time-consuming task, and only for the sake of checking a box instead of for their own sake.
There is a saying “every cloud has a silver lining” which means that although things may look bleak, we can always seek goodness behind every sorrow.
Under the current conditions, where we are all pressured and restricted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the higher education world has benefitted from the distance-learning experience. It would be such a waste if we do not use this opportunity to move forward and reflect – or even better, to reform – old regulations for the sake of Indonesia’s education’s future.
CW Watson, Adjunct Professor, School of Business and Management, ITB; Emeritus Professor, School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, UK