In the centuries-old tradition of international academia, the title\nof professor emeritus represents one of the highest forms of recognition\nfor senior professors who have made extraordinary contributions and\ndemonstrated lengthy service to the academic world. However, Ministerial\nRegulation on the Profession, Career and Income of Lecturers\n(Permendiktisaintek) No.\u00a052 of 2025 assigns a fundamentally different\nmeaning to the term. This regulation grants the status of Professor\nEmeritus to professors reaching the retirement age of 70 and remaining\n\u201cemployed\u201d until age 75 at private universities (PTS). The question\narises: is the use of this terminology, which should be laden with\nhonour, appropriately applied for this purpose? This regulation not only\nintroduces a new policy but also shifts the symbolic meaning of an\ninternationally established honourable title.<\/p>\n
The ministerial regulation states that the conferment of Professor\nEmeritus status is intended for the development and strengthening of\nscience and technology. This status is also considered in university\nquality assurance or accreditation assessment, limited in this case to\nprivate universities. The essence of this regulation deserves\nappreciation, providing opportunities for senior professors to continue\ntheir academic work. This represents a positive step, although it is not\nentirely novel.<\/p>\n
In earlier regulations, such as the Ministerial Regulation on\nResearch, Technology and Higher Education No.\u00a026 of 2015, this was also\npermitted, even until age 79, but without the specific designation of\nProfessor Emeritus. The only distinction was the change in lecturer\nidentification number, from the National Lecturer Identity Number (NIDN)\nto a Special Lecturer Identity Number (NIDK), often referred to as\n\u201cprofessor with NIDK\u201d, to differentiate from professors who have not yet\nreached retirement age at 70.<\/p>\n
General Understanding and Practice of Awarding the Professor\nEmeritus Title<\/strong><\/p>\n Leading dictionaries such as Merriam-Webster and Oxford Learner\u2019s\nDictionary define Professor Emeritus as \u201ca person retired from\nprofessional life but permitted to retain as an honorary title the rank\nof the last office held\u201d. The National University of Singapore (NUS)\ndefines the professor emeritus status as \u201cThe Emeritus Professor title\nis awarded to full professors on retirement in recognition of their\nsustained and strong contributions in teaching, research and\/or service\nto the University and its community.\u201d<\/p>\n This title is an honourable distinction, generally awarded as\nrecognition or the highest honour for a senior professor who has made\nextraordinary contributions over an extended period. It is not\nautomatically granted to all professors upon reaching retirement. This\npractice has become an established academic tradition at many leading\nuniversities worldwide. With this title, a professor is given the\nopportunity to continue using their title, remaining involved in various\nacademic activities such as teaching, conducting research, mentoring\nstudents, and accessing university facilities. The title is not always\ntied to salary; indeed, an emeritus professor often no longer receives\ncompensation.<\/p>\n I once had the honour of visiting Prof.\u00a0Lee Seng-Lip\u2019s office at the\nNational University of Singapore (NUS) in the early 2010s. He had been\nconferred the title of Professor Emeritus at NUS in recognition of his\nextraordinary contributions and service. He maintained an office on the\nNUS campus, continued his academic work, and retained access to various\ncampus facilities, but no longer received a salary. Similarly, I\nexperienced visiting Prof.\u00a0B. Vijaya Rangan at Curtin University\u2019s\ncampus in Australia. At that time, he held the status of Professor\nEmeritus. The scheme and its application were similar to Prof.\u00a0Lee\nSeng-Lip\u2019s experience at NUS\u2014the highest honour, far from merely a\nmarker of contract extension.<\/p>\n Within Indonesia, the conferment of the Professor Emeritus title has\nbegun to occur, primarily over the past decade at state universities.\nFor example, ITB conferred the title of Professor Emeritus upon\nProf.\u00a0Djoko Santoso in January 2024 and upon Prof.\u00a0Djoko Tjahjono\nIskandar in December 2023. The title was awarded as a form of the\nhighest honour and appreciation for these senior professors, and the\nconferment took place at a special ceremony. Similarly, the University\nof Indonesia has conferred the professor emeritus title upon several of\nits senior professors with similar intent, prior to the publication of\nthis regulation. The Professor Emeritus title conferred in this manner\naligns with established international academic tradition.<\/p>\n Professor Emeritus: From Academic Honour to Employment\nContract Extension<\/strong><\/p>\n What is particularly regrettable about the provisions in this\nregulation is the reduction in the meaning of professor emeritus, from\nan academic honour to mere employment contract extension. For lecturers\nat state universities, this even means working at other\ninstitutions\u2014that is, at private universities. The terminology, already\nwell-established as an international academic tradition intended as an\nhonorary distinction, a prestigious recognition, has been converted into\na mere administrative instrument, no different from the \u201cprofessor with\nNIDK\u201d status in earlier regulations.<\/p>\n To reiterate, the issue here is not the extension of service for\nsenior professors who have reached retirement age\u2014not at all. The\nopportunity given to senior professors to continue their academic work\nis very much appreciated. What ought to be questioned is the use of\nacademic terminology that could be described as standardised in the\nglobal higher education sphere, which has not been appropriately\napplied.<\/p>\n Why is this important? Academic tradition is built upon symbolic\nmeanings that possess historical and cultural dimensions. The tradition\nof awarding the professor emeritus title is an international practice\nthat has been ongoing for more than a century. Universities in Indonesia\nare not isolated from participation in international higher education\ndiscourse; they are members of the global academic community.<\/p>",
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