Unair Explains Non-Civil Servant Lecturer's Base Salary of Rp 2.6 Million
Universitas Airlangga (Unair) has stated that a lecturer’s income cannot be measured by base salary alone. This statement was made in response to testimony from non-civil servant (non-ASN) Faculty of Law lecturer Cenuk Widiyastrisna Sayekti at the Constitutional Court last week.
According to Unair’s Director of Human Resources, Talent Management, and Organisational Development, Radian Salman, the base salary is merely one administrative component on a lecturer’s pay slip. He noted that there are other components received by lecturers each month, which accumulate into take-home pay (THP).
“A lecturer’s income cannot be viewed solely from the base salary, but must be based on the take-home pay, which consists of various income components,” Radian said on Saturday, 4 July 2026.
Radian explained that a lecturer’s fixed monthly income components consist of the base salary, functional allowance, family allowance, and an additional functional allowance paid around mid-month. Furthermore, lecturers receive a 13th-month salary, a lecturer income improvement allowance (TPK), and a religious holiday allowance (THR) equivalent to the base salary, bringing the total annual income to the equivalent of 14 months’ salary.
Beyond this, Radian continued, lecturers can also earn non-fixed income, such as meal allowances and certification allowances (serdos) for non-civil servant lecturers. Additional earnings can come from supervising community service programmes (KKN), examining, marking, scientific publication incentives, and other academic achievement incentives.
Radian stated that the university also implements salary increases every two years. The amount is relatively small as it derives solely from the base salary increment, ranging from approximately Rp 96,000 to Rp 120,000.
Regarding the specific salary received by Cenuk, Radian detailed that the Human Resources Directorate’s records show her initial base salary upon joining as a lecturer was indeed around Rp 2.6 million. However, her total income in 2025 reportedly reached approximately Rp 94 million to Rp 95 million per annum, or an average of around Rp 7.8 million per month. As of July 2026, Cenuk is claimed to have received over Rp 50 million, averaging around Rp 9.2 million per month.
On the matter of research funds, Radian commented that research grants are not part of a lecturer’s fixed income but are competitive funds applied for by the lecturer. The funds are disbursed in two stages: 70 percent after the contract is signed, and the remaining 30 percent once the research output targets are met. “The university never withholds research funds outside of this mechanism. If the output targets are not met, the remaining 30 percent simply cannot be disbursed,” he said.
Cenuk Sayekti, a non-ASN lecturer at Unair, was a witness in the judicial review of Law Number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers at the Constitutional Court on Tuesday, 30 June 2026. In her testimony, she claimed to receive a monthly salary of around Rp 3.3 million, comprising a base salary of Rp 2.6 million plus a professional allowance for her lector position, meal allowance, and rice allowance.
According to her, despite additional income from the lecturer certification allowance, her earnings did not provide a sense of security because a large portion of her income depended on components outside the base salary. This income uncertainty, she argued, has an impact on academic freedom. The Macquarie University graduate recounted being summoned by her superior after criticising a state institution on social media and participating in the 2025 International Labour Day march. Subsequently, her teaching load was reduced, she was removed from several academic teams, and was no longer involved in certain campus activities. “If you ask whether financial security is related to academic freedom, it is. It creates a chilling effect. Many lecturers become afraid to be critical because they worry about receiving similar treatment,” she said.
Cenuk also revealed that she had once applied for a home ownership loan (KPR) but was rejected because her income was deemed insufficient. To meet her living expenses, she works as a consultant outside of her teaching duties.