Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology: Universities Must Prioritise Quality
Purwokerto (ANTARA) - The Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, Stella Christie, emphasised that universities need to prioritise quality in institutional development, rather than pursuing larger sizes or higher student numbers.
“STIE Satria should move towards quality and not concern itself with quantity. It is not about size, but about quality,” she stated after speaking at a national seminar in the Putra Sang Fajar Auditorium, Menara Teratai Complex, Purwokerto, Central Java, on Saturday afternoon.
The national seminar, titled “Synergy of Science, Technology, and National Values in Creating a Superior Generation with Global Competitiveness,” was organised by the Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah Purwokerto Branch Committee in collaboration with the Satria Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah School of Economics (STIE).
Furthermore, the Deputy Minister noted that not all higher education institutions should be directed towards becoming research universities, as Indonesia also has a significant demand for vocational education.
“I strongly agree that not everything must become a research university. Our need for vocational education is actually very profound,” she emphasised.
She stated that this demand for vocational education could serve as a key consideration for STIE Satria Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah Purwokerto in determining its mission and developmental direction.
Stella also expressed appreciation for the quality of questions and participant interaction during the seminar, which demonstrated high expectations for educational development within the Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah environment.
She expressed her hope that Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah would focus on three fundamental questions in the development of higher education: how to create knowledge, how to transmit knowledge, and how to curate knowledge.
“My hope is that Al Irsyad Al Islamiyyah can earnestly prioritise these questions and provide answers to them: how we create knowledge, how we transmit knowledge, and how we curate knowledge,” she said.
The Deputy Minister assessed that the ability to curate knowledge is becoming increasingly important amidst the heavy flow of information.
According to her, universities must be capable of determining which information is important to know and disseminate, ensuring that the public is not easily misled by false information.
Stella concluded that the quality of a university is not solely determined by the size of the institution, but also by its ability to meaningfully create, transmit, and curate knowledge.