Communication experts must publish more
Communication experts must publish more
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Forty years after Indonesian universities began communication science courses, the amount of research conducted and published is lamentably low, a scholar says.
Sasa Djuarsa said here Saturday that Indonesia's communications experts have not conducted much research and have published even fewer books.
"Even translated books on communication written by foreign experts are rare," the expert from the Jakarta-based University of Indonesia said in a seminar co-sponsored by The Jakarta Post, Kompas and Gadjah Mada University.
He said only a few universities have communications experts that are active in the field and that most local scholars are very unproductive.
"This is lamentable because one thing that makes experts well- known to the public is their scientific works," Sasa said.
The one-day seminar featured communications specialists Alwi Dahlan from the University of Indonesia; Astrid Susanto, also from the University of Indonesia; Bambang Setiawan from Gadjah Mada University and Jalaludin Rakmat from Bandung's University of Pajajaran.
Low productivity is to blame for the little progress made in Indonesia's communications field, Sasa said.
To make things worse, both lecturers and students have a poor grasp of English and have trouble reading books written by foreign experts, who dominate the field.
"That explains why universities produce communications experts whose knowledge is limited to the information contained in the handouts they give out in class," he said.
Research activities, he said, are mostly done when there is a sponsor, of which there are very few, he added.
"The scapegoat for lack of research and development activities is predictable: inadequate university funding. Besides, experts find it difficult to get sponsors both at home and from abroad," he said.
Bambang Setiawan proposed that universities shift their orientations away from producing experts for the government to producing talent for companies in the fast-growing private sector.
He argued that rapid economic development in Indonesia has given rise to the establishment of private enterprises which require communications experts.
But he acknowledged that such a reorientation in their curriculums won't be easy, mainly because of the money needed. (har/pan)