Indonesia in the Whirlwind of Global Higher Education Transformation
Higher education transformation is occurring globally. Universities are no longer viewed merely as places to obtain academic degrees but as primary engines for generating innovation, developing technology, solving societal problems, and driving knowledge-based economic transformation.
The recently released UNESCO roadmap “Transforming Higher Education: Global Collaboration on Visioning and Action” on 12 March 2026 emphasises that higher education must move towards a new paradigm: more inclusive, more collaborative, more relevant to the world of work, and more oriented towards social impact and technological innovation.
Future universities are required to integrate three main functions simultaneously: education, research, and social innovation. These three functions must be integrated, no longer standing alone in an ecosystem that not only produces quality graduates but also becomes a driving force for knowledge-based economic development through the utilisation of new knowledge, technological innovation, and solutions for society.
In Indonesia, the direction of this transformation is already beginning to be reflected in the Strategic Plan of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Renstra Kemdiktisaintek 2025-2029), which positions higher education and research as important pillars towards Golden Indonesia 2045.
However, when compared to the current state of higher education in Indonesia with the UNESCO global roadmap, several structural gaps still require serious attention.
Access to Higher Education and Inclusivity Challenges
One of the main principles in the UNESCO roadmap is expanding access to higher education inclusively. Higher education should not be a privilege for certain groups but an opportunity, even a right, that can be accessed throughout life by all of society to enhance personal capacity.
Indonesia has undertaken various efforts to expand access through scholarship programmes and increasing university capacity. However, the higher education participation rate remains around 32%, below the previously set target of 37.63%. Additionally, access disparities between regions, particularly between western and eastern Indonesia, remain significant.
In this context, it is important to realise that increasing access to higher education cannot rely solely on public universities (PTN), given the continuously rising demand as the productive-age population grows. This is where the role of Private Universities (PTS) becomes highly strategic and irreplaceable as the backbone of access expansion.
With a large number of institutions and wide reach, PTS play a real role in accommodating millions of young college-age individuals not absorbed by PTN. Support to ensure the sustainability and quality of PTS amid current challenges, including declining student numbers, policy imbalances, and increasingly tight competition with PTN, must continue to be provided through national strategies that ensure Indonesia’s higher education system remains inclusive, diverse, and able to reach all layers of society. Without serious strengthening of PTS, efforts to increase higher education participation and maintain national system inclusivity will be difficult to achieve.
Furthermore, in the context of enhancing the diversity of inclusive learning patterns, the concept of lifelong learning still receives little attention and has not become the main architecture in building inclusive access within the national higher education system. Yet, amid rapid technological changes, particularly due to the development of artificial intelligence and automation, the ability to reskill and upskill skills to remain relevant throughout one’s career is becoming increasingly important.
In the UNESCO Roadmap, future universities no longer serve only college-age students but become centres for lifelong learning for society continuously facing technological and workforce changes.
In this context, vocational higher education, particularly polytechnics with more flexible vocational learning models, can play an important role as a more inclusive and relevant pathway to higher education for community and workforce needs, and can also be developed into lifelong learning platforms through micro-credential programmes, industry training, professional certification, and workforce reskilling programmes. However, to carry out this role optimally, polytechnics need to be strengthened not only in terms of educational capacity but also in terms of innovation quality and industry collaboration.
Graduate Relevance Gap
The next challenge is the gap between graduate competencies and workforce needs. The Renstra Kemdiktisaintek also acknowledges the mismatch between university graduate competencies and business and industry needs. This is evident from the still low absorption rate of graduates in the job market shortly after graduation.
Yet, in the UNESCO Roadmap, future learning must prioritise problem-based learning and experiential learning, namely learning based on real projects and industry practical experiences. Interestingly, this approach is actually the basic characteristic of vocational higher education.
Practice-based curricula, industry internships, and project-based learning are models already long implemented in many polytechnics and are highly aligned with the future higher education paradigm. This means that, if developed optimally, vocational higher education can become the future learning model for Indonesian higher education. What still needs strengthening is more systematic integration between education, industry, and technological innovation.
Research and Innovation Not Yet Optimal