The number of lecturers in the health programme in Indonesia is still low. Limited number in education providers at the postgraduate (S2) level have become one of the reasons. Based on data from the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristek Dikti), the health programme is still lacking of 38,000 lecturers.

Mohammad Nasir, Minister of Kemenristek Dikti said that lecturers are still needed for the programs of midwifery, nursing, nutrition and health. There are many lecturers in the health programme who only have bachelor degree (S1). To tackle this problem, Kemenristek Dikti will give mandate for selected universities to open postgraduate programme in health.

Nasir added that his ministry will cooperate with the Ministry of Health and the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) so that lecturer profession test in health can be immediately conducted. He explained that the number of students will always increase every year. Therefore the number of lecturers should be also increase.

Meanwhile Chairman of Indonesian Private Universities Association (Aptisi), Budi Djatmiko said that in order to overcome the shortage of lecturers, the government should allow private universities (PTS) to open postgraduate (S2) and PhD (S3) programmes similar to public universities (PTN). He added that for a short-term solution, the government can outsource professors who can lecture in PTS.

Source:
• http://www.koran-sindo.com/news.php?r=0&n=7&date=2017-01-24
• http://regional.kompas.com/read/2017/01/23/19282251/perguruan.tinggi.di....

Commentary by Lisa Wilianto, British Council Indonesia, SIEM Programme Manager, lisa.wilianto@britishcouncil.or.id

Health studies in Indonesia are less popular than business and engineering studies. Based on British Council Higher Education Student Data (HESA) in 2014/2015, top 3 subjects area for Indonesian students were Business & Administration Studies, Engineering & Technology and Social Studies. However the students’ numbers for this study are getting increasing.
In addition, the employment opportunity rate for health studies in Indonesia is quite high. In fact, health is one of the priority areas for Indonesia Government. This opportunity should be taken by the UK Institutions to explore the possibility in supporting or collaborating with selected Indonesia universities through U-U partnership. For example in delivering postgraduate courses; cooperation and exchange in all areas of mutual academic interest; and also exchange academic materials and information. Furthermore, this could be a good start to liaise with local universities as the UK Government encourages UK institutions to have partnership with overseas universities.

Regarding the selected universities, one of them is Universitas Lambung Mangkurat, Kalimantan. This information was based on Media Indonesia news http://mediaindonesia.com/news/read/89012/pts-di-indonesia-kekurangan-do...