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Indonesia: Hiccups in our higher education?

Indonesian higher education has been in a bad shape over the past years

Pierre Marthinus (The Jakarta Post)
Edinburgh, UK
Sat, January 8, 2011

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Indonesia: Hiccups in our higher education?

I

ndonesian higher education has been in a bad shape over the past years. The country ranked 64th among 243 countries surveyed, according to the SCImago Journal and Country Ranking (Kompas, Dec. 11).  

From 1996 to 2008, we only managed to publish 9,194 scientific documents, falling behind Turkey (171,048), Iran (68,401), Egypt (47,420), Malaysia (29,166). Saudi Arabia (26,763), Pakistan (24,564), Jordan (10,751) and Bangladesh (9,590).

Furthermore, many national media publications lamented in their editorials how Indonesia’s education  — and the international surveys that measured them  — were politicized in nature, defying the universal ethics of “truth and honesty”. The methodology applied in the survey was also criticized, arguing that higher education is not only about scientific publications alone.

Being critical is important, however, Indonesia cannot afford to be hypercritical or hypocritical to these findings. A hypercritical attitude, dismissing such findings altogether because of its biases, will simply throw away the baby along with the bathwater, not allowing us to learn from our past failures. A hypocritical attitude is even more detrimental, welcoming the results when we rank highly but dismissing them when we are not performing well.

Another authoritative international survey on higher education is the QS World University Rankings.

This ranking is slightly more comprehensive, focusing on more aspects than research publications alone. Previously in 2009, the University of Indonesia ranked 201st. The achievement was vividly displayed in banners across the university campus.

Every morning, lecturer, researchers, and students alike were greeted by these banners at the university’s main gate. The unofficial buzz for the university was to get into the top 200 universities in 2010.

So how did we perform in 2010? University of Indonesia (UI) fell 35 places to 236th. Other Indonesian universities followed suit. Gadjah Mada University (UGM) slumped by 71 places from 250th to 321st.

The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) slipped from 351st into the 401-450 category. Airlangga University slid from the 401-450 category to the lower 451-500 tier.

To sum up, both surveys showcase similar disheartening results for Indonesia. It is important to bring the findings to attention, despite their biases and shortcomings. The intention is not to defame our respective institutions of higher education, but simply to remind that improvements are much needed this year.

There is a close relationship between the production of knowledge and a country’s international power as well as prestige. A highly productive higher education system will supply the national economy with skilled graduates, produce and disseminate knowledge through its scientific research publications, and also provide policy inputs for various national stakeholders.  

For this reason, higher education and its production of knowledge should be taken seriously as a strategic industry with an embedded social purpose.

On the institutional level, there are many challenges that our higher education institutions need to thoroughly address. One simple problem that is seemingly petty, yet manages to come up in most colleagues’ conversation and ranting, is the “division of labor” within Indonesia’s higher education.

Ideally, institutions of higher education will consist of three types of labor, which are lecturers, researchers and managers. Lecturers are required to produce qualified and skilled graduates that will feed the national economy.  

On the other hand, researchers are required to produce and disseminate knowledge through scientific publications and to assist national stakeholders through their policy insights. Lastly, managers are needed to technically run the institution by allocating labor and financial resources to obtain their maximum efficiency and highest return.

In reality, Indonesian academics are required to juggle several  — if not all  — of these functions at the same time, which takes a hefty toll on their productivity. There are many instances where the most capable and passionate lecturers are kept outside the classroom, neglecting the nation’s young and brilliant minds, because they are required to “either publish or perish”.  

On the other hand, experienced and professional researchers are demanded to fulfill a certain amount of teaching credits, keeping them away from their most cherished and productive activity of researching.

Furthermore, lecturers and researchers alike are placed in technical/managerial positions, taking care of administrative, financial and bureaucratic matters, inevitably devouring a large portion of their time and energy.  

Some academics feel the joy of multitasking but a growing number are reluctantly doing it in order to secure their employment as well as the income that comes together with it. Proponents believe that the multitasking academics are the way forward, arguing their case for a research-based teaching curriculum. However, taking up multiple roles should be a privilege of personal choice instead of a responsibility and employment conditionality that is imposed.

On the institutional level, policy should be geared either to provide better support for these “multitasking academics” or to establish a better division of labor. Indonesian centers of excellence will need to regroup to solve their common problems. If these hiccups are left unaddressed, it is likely that our higher education will do another “freefall” in this year’s international ranking.
 

The writer is a fellow researcher at Pacivis, the Department of International Relations at the University of Indonesia.

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