The Idea for Higher Education Development
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has reiterated his commitment to the development of the quality of Indonesia\'s human resources over the next five years.
This commitment will ultimately be based on the capability of thousands of universities to produce quality graduates and research. The problem is that Indonesia has more than 4,500 universities, most of which are still struggling to become healthy organizations. The new Cabinet of Jokowi must formulate a framework for developing universities that are suitable to the situation, ones that are now very large in number, diverse in various ways and not yet of good quality. Importing the rectors as a solution seems strange in the midst of this reality.
Based on the Higher Education Database, there are currently 4,680 higher education institutions in the form of universities, institutes, polytechnics, academies, and schools of higher learning. Of that number, only around 400 are state universities. Even though the number is very large and even greater than in China, the many universities are only able to accommodate less than 30 percent of high school graduates.
The issue of higher education capacity is very important, but what is more urgent is improving the quality of Tridharma\'s activities (Three Pillars of Higher Education: Education, Research and Community Service). The capacity problem will be resolved if the thousands of universities with active student numbers of less than 500 each can improve their quality so that the numbers of students also increase. Suppose there were 2,000 universities, each of which could receive a minimum of 500 new students per year, the universities would be able to accommodate at least 50 percent of high school graduates, totaling about 2 million.
Diversity framework
What kind of higher education development framework is appropriate and able to improve overall quality? The search for this development framework is urgent considering that currently there is only one development framework, namely quality assurance through accreditation.
The development framework must depart from the reality of the magnitude of the variations in our higher education situation. Therefore, I propose a diversity framework. This means that there must be a higher education development model that is suitable for each university of differing quality, type and size. Using this framework, in fact, the initial steps have been carried out correctly by the government through clustering in such a way that universities in one cluster are of a similar quality. Unfortunately, this step has not been followed up with an appropriate development program for each cluster. The clustering has even been perceived as a ranking system, which raises problems.
Many people talk about it as if there is a significant difference in quality between university rank 1 and 10 even though both are in the same cluster. If the clustering algorithm being used is good enough, all universities in the same cluster should have qualities that tend to be the same. If not, the algorithm is not good. Indeed universities in the same cluster can be sorted according to their scores, but the difference will be very small. Although the situation of Indonesian higher education is very diverse, in general universities can be grouped into three. First are universities that are able to contribute to overcoming the problem of national development. Second are universities that are still struggling to overcome the managerial problems of their organizations. Third are universities that are still struggling to meet their basic needs.
The above-mentioned grouping is simpler than the results of the latest clustering, which contains five clusters for the 2,010 non-vocational universities. There are only 14 state universities in cluster I, 72 state and private universities in cluster II, 299 universities in cluster III and 1,725 universities in clusters IV and V. Cluster I can be aligned with the first group in my proposal, clusters II and III are parallel to the second group and clusters IV and IV become the third group.
Universities in the first group are most suitable to be developed into research universities, specifically to help overcome increasingly complex development problems. Universities in this group should focus on developing S-2 and S-3 programs and therefore do not need to be burdened with diploma programs. Universities in this cluster are better encouraged to collaborate with foreign countries and are expected to have global quality so they can achieve world-class university status. The government can provide support by asking all ministries to collaborate with these universities to solve the development problems that become their obligation, especially those of a strategic nature such as food, health, energy, technology, education and culture.
Universities in this group do not need to take institutional accreditation from the National Accreditation Agency (BAN), but are facilitated to get international accreditation. In order to continue working at the global level, it is recommended that the S-2 and S-3 programs at the universities be conducted using international standards and the English language. With this development scenario, the first cluster of universities is expected to be equal with many superior universities abroad.
For universities in the second group, which still need to improve the productivity and quality of their Tridharma activities in order to become universities of cluster I, a suitable development framework is the application of strategic management as previously offered through various competitive grants. Hopefully, the government has the funds to help these university groups realize their excellence by implementing strategic management. Accordingly, accreditation from BAN can be an effective means of improving the quality of their Tridharma activities.
Merging the universities
The last group consists of universities that are still struggling to meet operational funding. The number of such universities is very large, but they have very few students. The development framework for universities of this cluster requires an out-of-the-box approach. Based on my idea, there should be encouragement for the merging of universities that are close both in terms of the study programs they have and of their supporting organizations.
The development framework through the merger has been launched by the government, but has not received a response because the incentives are less attractive. Based on my idea there must be a very
interesting merger incentive. First, the government encourages each regency or city to lend at least a 50-hectare plot of land. This land would still belong to the regency or city, but would be used for a campus. Second, universities that join in the merger and occupy this land must be required to be able to accept at least 3,000 new students. If a university is able to receive 3,000 per year, the community will be able to fund their tuition and the university can meet its operational costs. Third, the campus will remain private with the new management, but will be assisted by the regional governments and cities.
Does this scenario do harm to the regencies and cities? Certainly not because the presence of 3,000 students per year will have a significant economic impact on regency and city growth. To ensure that the loaned land does not change hands, there needs to be a clear agreement and if necessary there is a representative of the regency or municipal government in the university’s organizational structure. With this wide land, I imagine viable campuses will be born because they can become a special area both for the interests of Tridharma\'s activities and their supporting things, such as dormitories, sports facilities and other facilities.
This vast land might only be available on the periphery, but it would even be an advantage so that there is a special situation for a campus, which is far from the hustle and bustle of the city, thereby being conducive to learning. Providing a minimum of a 50-ha plot of land is actually too small for a quality campus. In many countries smaller than Indonesia, many campuses have hundreds of hectares of land. As a big nation, it is time for us to dream big, especially for education that does require a long time.
This last university development framework is only possible if the government views universities as an equal partner in fulfilling the mandate of the law to educate the nation\'s life. Universities are a concrete form of community participation to help the government educate the nation so that the government should help in various possible ways.
Johanes Eka Priyatma, Rector of Sanata Dharma University Yogyakarta, Member of the Center for the Assessment of Indonesian Catholic Higher Education