Building autonomy in Indonesia's state universities

Building autonomy in Indonesia's state universities

By Iwan Pranoto

BANDUNG (JP): Universities are not merely buildings, but ideas
and cultures remaking themselves. A university is not a place
where professors just lecture on their subjects and present their
thoughts, it is a place where learning and criticizing new ideas
is actively encouraged. It is about finding alternatives.

This view has revitalized many modern universities and built
strong links between academic society and the nation's life.

However, for ideas and cultures to remake themselves,
universities need to be fully autonomous. It is a necessary
condition for those ideas and cultures to evolve.

The necessity of university autonomy is highlighted by the
directorate general of higher education in the new program to
improve the quality of undergraduates in the country. It says
that to improve the quality of services offered by a university,
one has to increase its autonomy. This condition is grouped with
three other factors which also help to improve quality:
accountability, evaluation and sustainability.

Since private universities are more autonomous than their
state equivalents, this article focuses on the latter.

To be autonomous, a university must have the freedom to select
its own students and staff (teaching and administration), and to
design and implementation its own curricula and develop and
enrich its own academic values.

Other important aspects of autonomy such as financial
management and university strategy are beyond the scope of this
article.

It is difficult to say whether state universities have
autonomy in the selection of students because the entrance test
(UMPTN) is not conducted in a transparent manner. Results of the
tests have never been publicly announced, despite the fact that
state universities are funded with taxpayers' money.

The (undoctored) marks of those who sit the test each year
should be announced, as should the minimum score required to
enter each program of study.

Those who mark the test should be made accountable. Every
participant should have the right to examine her or his answer
sheets after the results have been announced to check whether or
not they have been evaluated correctly. If a candidate finds a
mistake in the evaluation, examiners should be compelled to mark
that answer sheet again.

Each state university department should state their minimum
entrance requirements. For example, an English department may set
a score of 85 out of 100 in the English test as a minimum entry
requirement. The same department may place a lesser emphasis on
other tests in the entrance exam. Departments should register
their entrance requirements with the university authorities
before prospective students sit the entrance exam.

Ideally, we have to reform the UMPTN. The system we are using
now is unaccountable and prone to abuse. First, the function of
UMPTN must be transformed. Examining authorities should be
responsible for holding the exam, marking the papers and
publishing the results.

After that, students should be able to check whether their
marks meet the entrance requirements for the study program of
their choice.

Entrance requirements should only be set on the basis of
intellectual ability and must not include race, ethnicity,
religion or any other irrelevant facts. If students' marks meet
the entrance requirements for a particular program then their
applications have to be accepted by that university.

Moreover, each candidate must have the right to ask for a copy
of his or her answer sheet -- the original is kept by the
examining body -- and a copy of the answers, so the performance
of the marker can be double checked, at a small monetary cost to
the candidate.

A system of this nature would be akin to the TOEFL (Test of
English as a Foreign Language) examination.

The selection of university administrative staff is not that
crucial. However, state universities do not have the full freedom
to select their teaching staff. It is true that state
universities are free to hire whomever they please, but the
problem is that they are then unable to get rid of them.

A teaching career in the state universities is a job for life.
Once you get the job, it is yours for as long as you want it.
Even if you perform poorly, the job is still yours.

Teaching positions in state universities should be made
renewable every five years. That would make for healthy
competition for the posts and thereby improve the quality of
teaching offered by the universities. Therefore, state
universities must have autonomy to hire and fire their teaching
staff as they see fit.

All universities, including private ones, must have full
autonomy to designing and implement suitable curricula. More
importantly, curriculum should be designed so that each student
can follow and finish it in a designated time.

It should not so arduous that only exceptional students are
able to follow it and it should include courses which students
feel are necessary for their development.

Curricula and the way they are implemented should be evaluated
on a regular basis by universities.

Finally, state universities must have the autonomy to develop
and enrich their academic values. This last element is very
important, but unfortunately it has often been neglected.

Two aspect of academic values that every member of the
academic community must work to develop are critical thinking and
living together. These two abilities will help to nurture a
healthy democratic society.

Universities must do everything possible to enable students to
develop these abilities through activities inside and outside the
classroom.

Students should be encouraged to question statements accepted
as truths during class time. They must learn to be skeptical,
because skepticism is an essential characteristic of the critical
thinker.

Moreover, students must have their imaginations challenged.
They should be given enough time to explore their thoughts.

Problem solving classes should highlight the multitude of
possible solutions to any one given difficulty because this will
help students to learn to explore alternatives and be innovative.
They will then discover how to think independently and will no
longer have to depend on the authorities to learn the "truth".

Students must be enlightened so that they learn how to reason
for themselves. This endeavor must be supported by an atmosphere
which is neither intimidating nor authoritarian.

This will help students to learn to listen to their
classmates' points of view, to disagree and to support each
other's ideas and will also teach them how to live together.

Unfortunately, the opportunity to learn in such an atmosphere
is very rare in state universities. It seems that universities
still feel that such an atmosphere is not that critical to the
learning process.

The motivation and ability of state university lecturers is
low and most have to moonlight to supplement their pitifully low
salaries. This fact excuses the inability of the academic
community to create a healthy climate for their students.

The writer is a maths lecturer at Bandung Institute of
Technology.