An urgent agenda for local human development<\/p>\n
S.A. Chowdhury, Principal Sector Specialist, Asian Development Bank,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
Adam Smith once wrote, "No one needs be bankrupt by investing
\nin human beings."<\/p>\n
All over the present day world it is recognized that the
\neducational achievement and economic success are closely linked;
\nthe battle to raise a nation's living standards is fought first
\nand foremost in the classrooms.<\/p>\n
The dramatic success of East Asian economies over the past two
\nand a half decades are partly attributed to the successful
\ninvestment made in human capital to create a skilled labor force
\nthat propelled the economy to unprecedented heights.<\/p>\n
Poverty was successfully reduced through economic growth and
\nhuman indicators rapidly improved. No doubt prudent macroeconomic
\npolicy worked as a catalyst in this venture.<\/p>\n
Among the countries in the region Singapore, Taiwan, South
\nKorea, Hong Kong and Malaysia provided sustained state support to
\nresearch and development (R&D) and tertiary education, and
\nsuccessfully induced private sector participation.<\/p>\n
The existence of a highly skilled labor force facilitated the
\nrebounding of some of the economies after the recent economic
\ncrisis. Indonesia's weakness in creating appropriate level of
\nmanpower is evident in its low R&D base and ineptly resourced
\ntertiary education system that fails to produce graduates of
\ninternational standards.<\/p>\n
The country's higher education system is yet to produce world
\nclass scientists, engineers and doctors. Indeed many
\nmultinational companies working in Indonesia are forced to
\nrecruit higher level technical and managerial personnel from
\noutside the country.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's higher education system is relatively new having
\ninitially evolved from Dutch colonial inheritance. But since
\nindependence from Netherlands in 1945 it gradually took on other
\nWest European and North American models.<\/p>\n
Indonesia's first university -- University of Gadjah Mada
\n(Yogyakarta) was established only in 1946, followed by the
\nUniversity of Indonesia in 1950 in Jakarta, the capital.<\/p>\n
Under the founding president Sukarno's administration a large
\nnumber of public universities was rapidly established; between
\n1960 and 1966 19 state universities and eight university level
\ninstitutions were established across the country.<\/p>\n
The main trend during president Soeharto's "New Order" regime
\n(1967-1998) was to relocate most of the state universities in new
\npurpose-built campuses financed by external and domestic sources.
\nBy early 1980s the government's target of geographic equity was
\nalmost achieved; at least one state university was located in
\neach of the then 27 provinces.<\/p>\n
The rapid expansion of higher education was however
\naccomplished at the cost of quality. Indeed no formal quality
\nassurance system was in place until 1994. It was only in that
\nyear a higher education accreditation board was established, with
\nthe task to provide external evaluation through accreditation.<\/p>\n
Subsequently when government put a brake on creating new state
\nuniversities, many private universities and colleges came to be
\nestablished, triggered by growing social demand.<\/p>\n
These were mainly sponsored by private foundations and non
\ngovernment organizations. There were widespread concerns among
\nemployers and academics of the unacceptably poor quality of
\ngraduates churned out by many of these newly established private
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
About 1.5 million students are currently enrolled in
\nIndonesia's tertiary education institutions, of which about two
\nthirds are in private institutions. About 80 university-level
\nstate institutions and about 25 private universities form the
\ncore of higher education system that comprises over 1800
\ninstitutions.<\/p>\n
Only about 12 per cent students study science and engineering
\nmainly due to lack of facilities while the rest study liberal
\narts -- many of whom often find it difficult to obtain gainful
\nemployment.<\/p>\n
A major weakness of the system is the low staff profile --
\nover 60 per cent of teaching staff in the system has only a
\nbachelor degree. Nearly 80 percent of all PhDs is concentrated in
\ntop 10 universities, all located in Java.<\/p>\n
Main income of the state universities comes from student fees
\nand government grants while most private universities achieve
\nnearly full cost recovery (tuition fees in private universities
\nrange from 5 to 20 times of those in public universities).<\/p>\n
The government's ambitious long-term strategy for tertiary
\neducation sets out targets for upgrading tertiary education to
\ncomparable international standards by providing autonomy in
\ngovernance -- establishing effective quality assurance regime,
\nupgrading staff profile, strengthening institutional and sector
\nmanagement capacity and by investing in information and
\ncommunication technology.<\/p>\n
The strategy focuses on achieving excellence and expanding
\nopportunities in science, technology and engineering -- study
\nprograms that will contribute to economic development. This will
\nbe underpinned by major restructuring of the system where all
\nfuture funding of higher education will be competitive and
\nperformance-based.<\/p>\n
In 2001 the government launched a six-year higher education
\nsector development and reforms program with a substantial
\nassistance package from the Manila-based Asian Development Bank.
\nThe program will contribute to modernize the higher education
\nsystem by (i) restructuring the management of higher education,
\nthrough improved governance, autonomy, and accreditation; (ii)
\nintroducing and reinforcing competitive and performance-based
\nmechanisms for higher education funding; (iii) improving quality
\nand relevance of higher education consistent with the needs of
\neconomic and social development; (iv) enhancing geographical and
\nsocial equity in higher education; and (v) establishing a
\nmeaningful public-private partnership in higher education.<\/p>\n
In upgrading the quality and relevance of higher education
\nprograms, a key focus will be on developing higher education
\nhuman resources, academic networking both within and outside the
\ncountry and strengthening quality assurance regime.<\/p>\n
Indonesia must also address two global trends that have
\nemerged with unanticipated speed and impact -- the development
\nand application of information technology and knowledge
\nmanagement through the Internet.<\/p>\n
And, as the opportunities offered by globalization and
\ninformation technology are not distributed evenly, the higher
\neducation system must take a lead role in minimizing the "digital
\ndivide". The program will assist in creating the new breed of
\nknowledge workers who will be mobile and adaptive to new
\ntechnology.<\/p>\n
Today a review of first year's experience of the six-year
\nprogram shows that the development concept and strategy is sound
\nand on track, and that although much work remains to be done, the
\ntertiary education is moving ahead steadfastly.<\/p>\n
In modernizing its higher education system Indonesia can gain
\nmuch from international experience to acquire and manage
\nknowledge that will benefit society in an increasingly knowledge-
\nbased and globalized economy. International higher education
\ncommunity will be well justified to assist Indonesia in this
\nendeavor.<\/p>\n
The views expressed by the writer are personal and do not
\nnecessarily reflect those of the institution he works with.<\/p>",
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