Education system needs changes<\/p>\n
By Nirwan Idrus<\/p>\n
This is the second of two articles on the Indonesian education
\nsystem.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Low salaries at state universities and
\npolytechnics force lecturers to moonlight, some even to the
\nextent that their permanent jobs become secondary and their
\nlecturing is delegated to their assistants.<\/p>\n
Some of the assistants are merely eighth or ninth-semester
\nstudents on the same course.<\/p>\n
Because lecturers, as civil servants, cannot be fired -- even
\nfor nonperformance (see Iwan Pranoto, The Jakarta Post Sept. 7,
\n1998) -- the moonlighting continues unabated and at a great cost
\nto their customers, the paying students, and as a consequence to
\nthe nation as a whole.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, lecturers are appointed in the first instance on
\nthe basis of their qualifications and experience. Their
\ncontinuing employment is based on their performance, evaluated
\nannually through a performance appraisal. A nonperforming
\nlecturer is entitled to three warnings and only after these, if
\nthere is no improvement in performance after appropriate help and
\nsupport, his\/her employment can be terminated.<\/p>\n
Some would pose the question of money. True, university
\nrectors and polytechnic directors as well as lecturers need to be
\nremunerated at the appropriate levels. Can Indonesia afford this?
\nIt is a wrong question. The right question is: can Indonesia
\nafford \"not\" to do this?<\/p>\n
It is actually a matter of priority. To date, there have been
\nloans, amounting to more than US$800 million, for Indonesia's
\neducation system. To implement the changes at the 80 or so state
\ntertiary education institutions suggested in my article on
\nTuesday -- better salaries and not making employees at state
\ninstitutions civil servants -- would need just a small fraction
\nof this amount, but the return on the investment would be many
\ntimes this figure.<\/p>\n
If Indonesia is serious about globalization, then there is no
\nquestion of whether it can or cannot afford it. It is an
\nimperative of inestimable value for current and future
\ngenerations of Indonesians.<\/p>\n
On the management side, the success of the changes will be
\nenhanced by the use of an appropriate management model. A rector
\nor director newly appointed under the new scheme will naturally
\nbring his\/her own management style, but in order to ensure
\nconsistent substance, the criteria for his\/her selection must be
\nin accordance with the guidelines of a management model.<\/p>\n
For example, in many tertiary institutions in Europe, the
\nEuropean Foundation for Quality (EFQ) model is used. In brief,
\nthis requires strong leadership qualities, good people
\nmanagement, good policy and strategy and good resources as inputs
\ninto the process. The monitored output includes not only customer
\n(students) satisfaction but also staff satisfaction, impacts on
\nsociety and business results.<\/p>\n
In many countries, ministries of education have monitoring and
\nsupporting roles to help \"rehabilitate\" tertiary institutions
\nwhich are unable to live within their means and as a result
\ncontinue to produce unacceptable business results.<\/p>\n
Business results include the size of the return on investment
\n(ROI), the size of surplus at the end of the financial year, the
\nincrease in the number of students during the year, the
\neffectiveness of the learning as evaluated by the students as
\ncustomers, the good perception of the institutions in the eyes of
\nthe students, their parents, the industry, indirect customers and
\nstakeholders.<\/p>\n
That is why the system has to change first. The model proposed
\nabove will force the management of the institutions to begin to
\nlook differently at its roles.<\/p>\n
Without any doubt, there will be people who will cry: \"Foul!,
\nYou're taking away our academic freedom!\"<\/p>\n
To them, questions can be raised such as: \"You had it and what
\ndid you do with it? Did you come up with innovative ways of
\nteaching and learning? Did you come up with earth-shattering
\nresearch results? Did you publish in respectable international
\njournals? Did you run useful, purposeful technical discussions,
\nseminars and conferences where you were able to push your
\nacademic freedom to the limit? Did you do anything else to put
\nyour department, faculty and university at the forefront of
\nknowledge barriers?\"<\/p>\n
There is no prize for guessing what the answer might be. To be
\nblunt, the new system can do away with those types of people
\nanyway. One can be certain that advertisements for jobs at
\nuniversities and polytechnics in Indonesia will drag out
\nsurprises from the woodwork, provided as has already been alluded
\nto above, a new system is brought in.<\/p>\n
On the working period, the working hours of staff at state
\nuniversities and polytechnics in Indonesia -- from 7 a.m. to 2:30
\np.m. -- are anachronistic. Even if the six or so hours per day
\nare fully effective, this equates to about 35 hours a week. On
\naverage, an academic at an overseas university will spend 65 to
\n70 hours a week on the job, either carrying out research, writing
\npapers, preparing better lecturing materials and methods, or in
\nscheduled contact with students.<\/p>\n
It is not known how many of the 35 hours per week are actually
\neffective. Clearly, even if they are all as effective as those of
\nforeign academics, we have already lost because we work half the
\ntotal hours they do.<\/p>\n
As somebody once said: \"Success is 99 percent perspiration and
\n1 percent inspiration.\" The time factor is therefore necessary
\nalthough not sufficient. Space does not allow a full argument on
\nchanging the working hours of academic staff at Indonesian
\nuniversities and polytechnics. It suffices to say the more
\nquality time one gives to a problem or issue, the better is the
\nsolution.<\/p>\n
To the skeptics who say that the above will not work in
\nIndonesia, it can be said that this has already worked in, at
\nleast, three higher education institutions in Indonesia, while
\none large state university is piloting a modified scheme in one
\nof its faculties with better than expected results.<\/p>\n
To come back to the question \"Is the education system ready to
\nhelp Indonesians globalize?, the truthful answer is negative,
\nalthough, as argued on Tuesday, there are only four obstacles --
\nthe appointments system, making academics civil servants, the
\ncurrent management model, and the working hours -- to an
\naffirmative answer.<\/p>\n
There are those who will argue that nothing can be done to
\nthis foursome of impediments to globalization in Indonesia. This
\nis a normal \"copout\" -- an excuse for doing nothing. We all know
\nthat when we do nothing, we achieve nothing. Nobody is not afraid
\nof stepping out of their comfortable cocoon, but the price is
\nextremely small to pay for the rewards that lie ahead. Can
\nIndonesia afford not to break out of that formidable-looking
\nfront-gate?<\/p>\n
The writer is a consultant on higher education and quality
\nmanagement living in Jakarta. This article is a personal opinion.<\/p>",
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