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Universities, scholars laud new policy on academic graduation requirements
Graduate-level students will no longer need to publish their work in a journal in order to graduate, according to a new policy recently signed by Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim.
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Illustration of graduation day. (Unsplash)
T
he latest policy from the government that changes the requirements for graduating from university, which includes removing the obligation of written academic work and publishing articles in journals, has been welcomed by scholars, but they urge universities to preserve the culture of writing.
Education, Culture, Research and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim recently signed a ministerial regulation that no longer requires students of Master’s and Doctoral degrees in Indonesian universities to publish their theses or dissertations to obtain a degree.
Previous regulations required Master’s degree students to publish their papers in an accredited scientific journal. Meanwhile, doctoral students had to publish their work in a reputable international journal.
Universities are also given more freedom to decide the kind of final project the graduate students must finish to graduate, including the option to do a non-written final project.
“Students can submit a [product] prototype, launch a project or other types of activities beyond just a thesis or dissertation,” Nadiem said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “But this doesn’t mean they can’t submit a thesis or dissertation. It’s up to each university to decide.”
The new policy, Nadiem argued, would give university departments more freedom to gauge the standard needed to graduate, whether conducting scientific research and writing the results in an academic paper or implementing projects on the ground.
The recent policy is the latest in a string of education reforms launched by the former CEO of ride-hailing platform Gojek. Shortly after his appointment as a cabinet minister in 2019, Nadiem decided to scrap the national exam for senior high school students.
