Ministry Opens Affirmative Pathway for Lecturers in NTT Due to Doctorate Shortage

The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) has opened a special affirmative pathway for lecturers in East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) to accelerate the improvement of academic qualifications, following the persistently low number of teaching staff holding doctoral degrees in the province. Director of Resources at the Directorate General of Higher Education, Sri Suning Kusumawardani, stated in Kupang on Friday that the ministry has prepared various scholarship and mentoring schemes for lecturers in affirmative regions and underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost areas (3T).

Through talent scouting and pre-doctoral programmes, lecturers will be assisted in finding mentors and developing research plans so they are better prepared to pursue doctoral studies at leading universities, she said during the socialisation of the Lecturer and Education Personnel Scholarship Programme for the NTT Region.

Data presented at the event showed that out of approximately 3,000 active lecturers in NTT, only around 1,000, or one-third, hold a doctoral qualification (S-3). The programme is implemented through a hybrid learning scheme involving several state universities with strong research reputations, such as Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB), and Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS).

Sri Suning explained that the hybrid format was chosen so that lecturers can continue carrying out their academic duties at their home institutions without losing their attached rights, including lecturer certification and professional allowances. “We want to ensure that lecturers can still fulfil the Tri Dharma of Higher Education while preparing themselves for further study,” she said.

“The fact that only one-third of lecturers in NTT hold a doctorate is a condition that must be addressed together immediately. Developing academic qualifications through scholarship pathways is one of the strategic steps to enhance the competitiveness of higher education institutions in NTT,” she added. She noted that increasing the number of doctoral-qualified lecturers will impact the strengthening of teaching quality, the enhancement of research capacity, and greater opportunities to secure national research grants.