Nadiem Makarim, Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) launched four new policies for local universities called’ Kampus Merdeka’ (Independent Campus).

The first policy is about autonomy for State Universities (PTN) and Private Universities (PTS) to open or establish new study programs. This autonomy is granted if the PTN and PTS have a minimum B – level accreditation and if they have signed a cooperation agreement with top global universities included in QS Top 100 World Universities list. In addition, all new study programs will automatically be accredited at C-level. However, this is not applicable to health and education study programs; health and education related programmes still require approval from government. Nadiem explained that, under this policy, the agreements between local and global universities will be for curriculum development, internship programs, and work placements for students. The Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) will work closely with universities and study program partners to conduct monitoring throughout the duration of the partnership.

The second policy states, that accreditation for higher education would be voluntary, and universities that do not seek re-accreditation will automatically receive the same score from the National Higher Education Accreditation Agency (BAN-PT) once their accreditation expires they had before.

The third policy launched, eases the requirements for state universities (PTN) to become autonomous institutions (PTN-BH). The PTN-BH is the highest status given by the government to state universities.

The fourth policy allows students to take courses from outside their study program and to transfer their credit scores from internship programmes for up to 40 credits (SKS) or two semesters’ worth of education to their on-going degrees. Nadiem explained that, universities will be required to give students the right and option to choose whether to study at a different university for two semesters or to take courses from other faculties at their own university for one semester. He added that this policy excluded health programs.

In addition, Nadiem stated that there was a change in understanding about SKS, namely SKS is now going to be defined as the ‘hours of activity’, and no longer just ‘hours of study’. He explained, that, ‘activity’ here means ‘learning in the classroom, internships or work practices in industry or organisations, student exchanges, community service, entrepreneurship, research, independent studies, and teaching activities in remote areas’.

Source: Beritasatu.com, 24 January 2020

Commentary by Lisa Wilianto:

The four new policies for universities are expected to encourage a higher number of local universities to collaborate with the industrial sector and international universities. These new policies have been received positively by local universities. The local institutions are ready to implement and design new programmes accordingly. They are looking forward to a review of the curriculum and to give students more programs to choose form. In addition, Bambang Brodjonegoro, Minister of Research and Technology (Menristek) believed that the Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus) program will encourage a higher number of Indonesian students to become go into research.

For UK Universities that are currently in partnership with or are going to pursue agreements with local universities, this is the right time to initiate the partnerships as these new policies will reduce the administrative and procedural processes required for approvals for partnerships with the local universities. The local institutions will have more resources ready to design and initiate collaborations on a range of areas.