Stella outlines strategic tips for universities in responding to market needs

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Deputy Minister for Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Wamendiktisaintek) Stella Christie has outlined strategic tips that higher education institutions can adopt to respond to market needs. In a statement in Jakarta on Wednesday, the Deputy Minister emphasised that innovation cannot emerge if the academic world remains trapped in dichotomies, such as market versus meaning or fundamental research versus applied research. Universities must begin to build a new perspective, namely how research can respond to the market while also leading it. “If we consider it as a dichotomy, that is already a mistake. The most determining category occurring in the United States and China is responding to the market and leading the market,” she said. Responding to the market, she explained, means fulfilling existing needs. Meanwhile, leading the market means creating new needs and innovations that did not previously exist. Stella explained that the progress of major countries like the United States and China is inseparable from systems that encourage research-based innovation. According to the cognitive psychology expert, the success of both countries in dominating the world’s strategic technologies, such as artificial intelligence, semiconductors, biotechnology, space, and quantum, stems from systems that support freedom of thought and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Deputy Minister Stella also emphasised universities, lecturers, and student researchers as the main actors in leading innovation. In her view, campuses have an advantage because they provide space and time for deep thinking and long-term research. “With limited time, it is very difficult to think about long-term innovation. That is why those who can best lead the market are lecturers, researchers, and students in higher education,” she stated. As a concrete form of support for strengthening the national research ecosystem, the Deputy Minister mentioned that her office has introduced a policy of providing financial incentives for lecturers who win research grants, which is expected to increase academic freedom while strengthening research productivity in universities. “Since this year, lecturers who win research grants are given direct financial incentives of up to 25 percent to maintain financial freedom,” said Stella Christie.