Reaching for the sky

The government recently released a document which clearly outlines the requirements for offering doctoral degrees by private universities. I commend the government and the Ministry of Education and Culture for taking this step. This is in line with the government's policy of privatization of free market activities.

Small countries like New Zealand and Australia produce hundreds of their own Ph.Ds every year. Canada, a country of 30 million, produces more than a thousand Ph.Ds a year. Our neighbors, the Philippines and India have been producing Ph.Ds since the 1950s. Singapore has recently declared that it would like to be a preferred destination for foreign students in the region.

But our country of 200 million people, a country which aspires to become one of the leading nations on earth, produces very few Ph.Ds. In business and economics, we produce half a dozen Ph.Ds a year from our state universities.

Hundreds of years of colonial rule has squashed our self- confidence so that we don't feel courageous enough to do anything. It has become our habit to depend on foreign countries for technology, knowledge, support, and recognition. Our writers and poets, scientists and engineers, scholars and thinkers -- they are only recognized here after they receive awards from the West. When it comes to higher education, we prefer to look to the West.

Those studying for a Ph.D. spend a lot of time doing scientific research. When the research is conducted in America or Europe, the scholar often works on a problem relevant to the West which will benefit them. Even if they work on a problem common to Indonesia, the researcher is far removed from the country, his supervisors and professors and largely unaware of Indonesia's realities. This means the students end up doing a dissertation, the quality of which may not be very high.

At the Association of Women's Entrepreneurs, we are attempting to introduce these higher degrees but we face stumbling blocks. Instead of receiving support from our friends and colleagues in Indonesia, I have received only criticism and discouragement. People say a Ph.D. is the highest degree in the world, so how can we offer such a degree? Do we have the resources to do so? Why not wait? Well we have been waiting. Waiting is easy because waiting means doing nothing. We do not want to sit idle. We don't want to wait for foreigners to come here to do our job. We would like to get ahead and do whatever we are capable of doing.

We are going to develop our ability to conduct first class research here, by us, and for us. We can learn from foreign academics and institutions, but on our terms. We want to belong to a network of excellent universities as an equal partner. I have been able to find scholars in the West as well as in our region, who share my views and have agreed to help me establish a center of excellence, a world class institution of higher learning.

We have to start somewhere. If we never start we shall never achieve anything. The best universities in the world -- Harvard, Stanford, Yale and Princeton -- happen to be private universities.

I appeal to the government, and state and private universities to work together to pave the way for establishing an environment in which serious research degrees can be awarded so that our nation can catch up with other nations in the region.

BAMBANG TRI CAHYONO

Executive Director

IPWI, Jakarta