The Director General (Dirjen) of the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education (Kemristekdikti) Ali Ghufron Mukti, said that one of the requirements to become a lecturer was a minimum certification of Master Degree (S-2). However, based on Kemristekdikti data, 34,933 lecturers in Indonesia are still only certified at S-1 level.

According to Ghufron, in six years Indonesia will face a shortage of 9,000 lecturers. The lecturers’ ability to teach also plays a significant role in determining the quality of graduating students. Ghufron said that the government continues to introduce a range of policies to counteract the shortage of lecturers.

He also said that in order to upgrade the qualification of lecturers, the government must also provide access to scholarships for master (S-2) and doctoral (S-3) courses both inside and outside Indonesia. Ghufron added that currently Kemristekdikti is committed to increase the number of lecturers, and scientists through scholarship schemes for postgraduate degrees (S-2 and S-3).

Currently, there are three scholarship schemes on offer: Educational Scholarship for Postgraduate Program in the Country (BPP-DN), Affirmation Scholarships for New State Universities (PTNB), and Educational Scholarships for Master to Doctor Program for Excellence Scholars (PMDSU).

In addition, the Indonesian government also provides lecturers with scholarships for overseas study. They are Dikti Funded Fulbright scheme to the United States (US) for 50 recipients, OeAD Austria for 10 recipients and Newton Fund through British Council for eight recipients.

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

Indonesian lecturers are able to apply Newton-Ristekdikti Doctoral Scholarship Programme in Maritime and Marine Science until 6 August 2017. Students are able to choose all study programmes with themes on maritime and marine in the UK. (E.g. marine law, maritime sociology, shipbuilding, aquaculture, renewable energy, logistic, coastal communities, disaster management, etc).

For further information on Newton-Ristekdikti Doctoral Scholarship Programme, please click here https://www.britishcouncil.id/en/programmes/education/newton-fund/phd-p…

Source:
• http://www.beritasatu.com/kesra/434789-tahun-2021-indonesia-kekurangan-…
• Perguruan Tinggi Krisis Dosen on 7 June 2017, Republika Newspaper Page 4