Universitas Indonesia (UI) received two awards in the category of Key Performance Indicator Excellence Award (Indikator Kinerja Utama, IKU) of State Universities with Legal Entities (PTN BH) in 2021/2022, namely the PTN BH IKU (IKU 6)—last year UI was ranked 8, now ranked 1—and Highest IKU Award Top 10% PTN BH League. This was announced by the Ministry of Education, Research and Technology (Kementerian Pendidikan, Riset, dan Teknologi, Kemdikbudristek) on Monday, 27 June 2022. IKU is a measure or indicator of the performance of an agency, especially in terms of achieving certain goals and objectives.
IKU is a new performance measure for universities to create adaptive universities based on more concrete outcomes. The policy is also a measuring tool to accelerate the implementation of the goverment’s program Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka. The IKU stipulated in the Decree of the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology number 3/M/2021 has eight main indicators, namely IKU 1, graduates get a decent job; IKU 2, students get off-campus experience; IKU 3, lecturers have activities outside the campus; IKU 4, teaching practices on campus; IKU 5, the work of lecturers is used by the community or gets international recognition; IKU 6, a study program in collaboration with world-class partners; IKU 7, collaborative and participatory class; and IKU 8, an international standard study program.
On the same occasion, Kemdikbudristek in collaboration with the Education Fund Management Institute (Lembaga Pengelola Dana Pendidikan, LPDP), launched the Twenty-First Episode of Merdeka Belajar: Higher Education Endowments. This program is a continuation of Merdeka Belajar Episode Six: Transforming Government Funds for Higher Education. The Higher Education Endowment Fund is a manifestation of the government’s commitment to accelerating the quality of higher education in order to have globally competitive Human Resources (HR).
“Kemdikbudristek in collaboration with LPDP provides funding allocation from the Higher Education Endowment Fund to support Legal Entity State Universities (PTN BH) to become world-class universities. Kemendikbudristek and LPDP will match the increase in endowment funds in the form of principal funds and investments that have been raised,” said Nadiem Anwar Makarim, B.A., M.B.A., Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology.
The funding allocation is divided into three periods, the first period being June 2 until December 31, 2022 with a total fund of IDR 445 billion. The second period, January 1 until December 31, 2023 sees a total fund of IDR 350 billion and the third period, that is January 1 until December 31, 2024 has a total fund of IDR 500 billion.
Apart from the Minister of Education and Technology, the signing of this collaboration was also witnessed by the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Indonesia, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, S.E., M.Sc., Ph.D. The signing was carried out by the Director General of Education and Technology with the President Director of LPDP; and Cooperation Agreements between the Director of Institutions and Representatives of Higher Education Leaders. A total of seventy-six universities attended the 21st Merdeka Belajar Launch, one of which was the Universitas Indonesia (UI) represented by Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Abdul Haris, Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs at the Universitas Indonesia.
UI Rector, Prof. Ari Kuncoro, SE, MA, Ph.D., said through the video, UI’s achievements in global rankings, namely the QS World University Ranking and Times Higher Education World University Ranking, are an indicator of the success of the hard work that has been done. “UI continues to commit in improving its academic and research reputation globally through increasing lecturer capacity, infrastructure, research and academics, international standard online learning and publication quality,” said Prof. Ari.
Further, Prof. Ari explained that this year’s UI proposal carries the theme of “Strengthening Universitas Indonesia’s Resource Capacity to Improve Global Academic Reputation” with programs that support international mobility of lecturers, researchers and students, strengthening international collaborations that result in international publications, improving academic reputation, and internationalization of study programs. In addition, these programs also strengthen the implementation of Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka, both nationally and internationally.
“With the support from the Kemdikbudristek and LPDP, we hope that this activity can be realized with optimal results so that UI is able to compete globally. UI is ready to synergize with other PTN BH to advance the world of higher education in Indonesia,” said Prof. Ari.
At the same event, Kemdikbudristek also launched a supporting ecosystem in the form of policies and systems to build university governance that is globally competitive. These policies include the New Credit Score Rating Policy and System, Research and Community Service Information Database and Information (BIMA), Science and Technology Index version 3 (SINTA), as well as the WCU Analytics System and PTN BH Analytics.
