Redesigning Policies for Managing Study Programmes Based on the Maqashid Syariah Paradigm
Higher education in Indonesia is currently at the epicentre of change, compelling us to look beyond mere graduation rates. In line with Press Release No. 196/Sipers/IV/2026 from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, the government emphasises that the reorganisation of study programmes is conducted in a measured, comprehensive manner based on thorough studies to enhance the contribution of higher education institutions to national development. This policy is not merely an administrative matter but an endeavour to ensure that higher education remains relevant in building the foundation of the nation’s civilisation.
However, higher education policy in Indonesia is at a crucial crossroads, where the tug-of-war between market efficiency demands and academic integrity presents strategic challenges requiring policy balance. Policies on reorganising study programmes actually have a strong foundation in Law No. 12 of 2012 on Higher Education. Articles 33 and 34 of this law explicitly regulate that the establishment, alteration, and closure of study programmes is the government’s authority and must be based on national standards.
The phenomenon often heralded as a crisis of relevance has surfaced through analysis of employment statistics released by the Central Statistics Agency in August 2025, which shows that the open unemployment rate for university graduates remains stuck at 5.2% to 5.9%. Quantitatively, this structural challenge is exacerbated by findings from various national and international studies indicating a horizontal mismatch or discrepancy between fields of study and employment reaching alarming figures of 50% to 60%.
These data provide a strategic momentum for the government to synchronise and reorganise study programmes, seen as suboptimal educational investment efficiency due to their inability to address technological disruption challenges predicted by the Future of Jobs Report to shift 44% of core worker skills in a short time.
Yet, behind these quantitative pressures lies a far more fundamental crisis of essence that risks weakening the nation’s intellectual capacity in the long term if study programme reorganisation is done without considering essential aspects of education. Qualitatively, there is a trend of commodification of knowledge where higher education institutions are increasingly viewed solely as providers of workforce instruments, a phenomenon in educational sociology studies termed as the tendency towards educational pragmatism that needs to be rebalanced.
If the success parameters of a study programme, particularly in education and humanities, are measured only based on short-term economic parameters in the industrial sector, there is a risk of reduction in the essence of education as a shaper of character and critical thinking. Neglecting programmes that produce educators—who truly possess pedagogical competencies, cognitive psychology, and character development—merely because of saturated formal market absorption risks hindering the optimisation of education’s role in the holistic and sustainable development of human potential and as guardians of the quality of future generations.
Therefore, the formulation of study programme management policies requires a new paradigm capable of bridging pragmatic economic needs with the noble existential needs of humanity. Here, the urgency of applying Maqashid Syariah as a policy framework becomes highly pressing to ensure that every decision not only focuses on preserving wealth through job market fulfilment but also consistently preserves reason and progeny as the main pillars of community welfare. Study programme management must not be trapped in a narrow dichotomy between existence and efficiency but directed towards adaptive curriculum transformation without sacrificing the core of knowledge that forms the soul of the nation’s intelligence.
Maqashid Syariah as a Matrix for Evaluating Study Programmes
The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology emphasises that higher education institutions must not submit to industrial interests alone; they have a great mandate in shaping character, strengthening critical thinking, and developing knowledge. Basic sciences, social sciences, humanities, and education fields still hold important positions in the national talent architecture because the government views higher education as a centre for developing innovation, culture, and leadership. To bridge this gap, we need a more comprehensive policy compass, namely the Maqashid Syariah paradigm synchronised with operational regulations such as Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Regulation No. 53 of 2023 on Higher Education Quality Assurance. The application of Maqashid Syariah as a matrix for evaluating study programmes in higher education is a policy ijtihad that positions education as an instrument for protecting the five basic elements of life or Al-Dharuriyyat al-Khamsah. In the dimension of Hifz al-Din or preserving religion, study programme management must ensure academic freedom and diversity that allows divine values and professional ethics to flourish across all fields of knowledge, from sciences to humanities. Its theological foundation is contained in Surah Adz-Dzariyat verse 56,
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ
which means, “And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.” Quantitatively, research shows that institutions integrating religious ethical values have higher academic integrity levels, so study programme evaluation must ensure that their curricula not only produce skilled workers but humans aware of their role in devotion.