Private Higher Education Institutions in Indonesia: Tackling the Issues and Envisaging Post-COVID-19 Strategic Actions

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From Indonesia’s Directorate General of Higher Education 2020 report, private higher education institutions in Indonesia are home to 4,374,994 students, making them major higher learning institutions. Their primary source of revenue is from students’ fees, which may lead to insolvency as a result of the decreased rate of new students’ enrolment due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Under such challenging conditions, these institutions have had to formulate strategic actions. While all private HEIs are impacted, they have varying degrees of capacity in terms of economies, infrastructures, human resources, and technologies — that may affect the extent to which they can take and implement strategic actions to reconcile with the impact of the pandemic. According to the directorate, smaller private HEIs are the most affected institutions.


Strategic Actions Taken by Private Higher Education Institutions in Indonesia
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen technological disruptions, causing all intellectual activities on campus to be moved to online systems. Raihan, Rector of the Jakarta Islamic University (UID) and Budi Djatmiko, the Head of the Association of Indonesian Private Universities (APTISI), said private HEIs should ideally include an internal learning management system — supporting equipment such as servers for online learning, and software that allows lecturers to supply teaching material. APTISI has similarly recommended that larger private HEIs with adequate infrastructure, human resources and financial resources could afford to provide these services. However, for smaller private HEIs with limited human resources, technology and financial resources, this would be extremely difficult. According to the association, only 30% of private HEIs (numbering 3,044 in 2020) could afford online learning — and most of them are the larger ones.

While many smaller private HEIs have encountered difficulty in running online learning, some have used their capacity to map whatever available options and ways to ensure learning in their institutions goes on.

Nevertheless, while many smaller private HEIs have encountered difficulty in running online learning, some have used their capacity to map whatever available options and ways to ensure learning in their institutions goes on. It was revealed that a private university1 in Bengkulu (a province in Sumatra) had adopted and contextualised what is known as “revolutionise education”, where it used an e-learning portal coupled with Zoom and Google Meets to conduct online learning and teaching. Given that there were many students living in other areas with good internet connectivity, the lecturers were encouraged to communicate with students via Whatsapp and Telegram. Use of YouTube to post videos of learning content was also promoted.


Next, the case of a smaller private university in Makassar tells a different story. This university has very limited capacity to provide online learning. It employs a hybrid approach to learning that combines offline and online learning — with the latter focusing on the use of free online platforms such as Zoom and Google Meets in limited 40-minute sessions. In this case, learning that are entirely reliant on lecturers cannot be provided comprehensively, resulting in students’ lack of knowledge and mastery of such topics. In such circumstances, students are at a disadvantage. To address some of these concerns, the government has given free data packages of 50 GB for students and lecturers from September to December 2020, and of 15 GB for the same period in 2021 to facilitate the operation of online learning.


Also reported by APTISI, during the pandemic, the incomes of private HEIs have been affected due to the declining enrolment of new students (by roughly 30% to 50%) and an increase in the dropout rate of enrolled students. In coming to term with this condition, private HEIs with adequate support resources may have more discretion in planning strategic initiatives to keep current students from dropping out. For example, a university in Semarang, Central Java, used its capacity to take strategic actions and solutions. They identified students who were entitled to financial aid, and also determined which students’ parents or families have been significantly impacted by COVID-19 (forcing them to lose their jobs or income). These were then prioritised for assistance. In the assistance, the university made available a wide range of aid, from tuition price reductions to tuition fee waivers. This, however, is not the case for smaller private HEIs, whose financial resources are limited. Such institutions have no other option but to rely on the government for financial aid for their students. In 2021, the government, through the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, provided financial aid totalling IDR 1 trillion — to assist 410,000 students at private and public HEIs in their tuition fees. Yet, not all students were eligible for this aid; only those who were studying in particular semesters (semesters 3, 5, and 7) could access the aid. With this amount limit and the restricted eligibility, the likelihood of students dropping out is likely to increase.

 

Larger private HEIs have also been able to practise their strategic actions and find solution to increase new student enrolment. The same university in Semarang, armed with resources in marketing, information technology, and finance, has been able promote and market its courses. A wide range of offline promotion programmes has also been conducted in the form of education fairs and outreach to senior high schools. Online promotions take the form of using social media advertisements. Smaller private HEIs like the university in Makassar, confined by their limitations in all aspects, cannot do the same things. They can only promote their institutions through simple pamphlets, word-of-mouth, and some school outreach. (Given the limited access to internet in some parts of Indonesia, institutions have to organise direct outreach to facilitate registration and payments; this remains a barrier for some potential students.)

There should be a programme to aid enrolled students who have missed a significant amount of learning as a result of limited online studying time.

What Are Some Post-COVID Actions?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the ways scholarly activities and practice are conducted at private HEIs, forcing them to adapt and use their ability and skills to construct strategic actions and find solutions to ensure their institutions remain viable. However, all these actions have been primarily focused on the tackling on-going issues and challenges, neglecting post-COVID-19 strategic actions for recovering the impacted activities and regaining financial viability.


It is important for policymakers and education institutions to examine the post-COVID-19 options for recovery — especially for those who have been badly impacted. First, there should be a programme to aid enrolled students who have missed a significant amount of learning as a result of limited online studying time. These institutions need to devise strategic techniques in keeping students up to date on teaching materials in order to improve their mastery of the courses. Second is a programme to bring students who have dropped out, back to university to restart their studies. Third, a programme relating to recovering the trust of potential new students to enrol in their institutions in order to restore financial viability. And last but not least, a programme to diversify the sources of income in addition to students’ fees.


So far, Nadiem Makarim, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has raised the idea of permanently using online learning modes as a form of distance-learning post-pandemic in Indonesia’s higher education. There has been no news of recovery steps from the government to assist private HEIs in resuming normal operations.

NURDIANA GAUS

Nurdiana Gaus is Professor at the Faculty of Political and Social Science, the University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

FEBRUARY 2022 | ISSUE 11

Riding the waves of change

  1. The names of the private universities are kept anonymous at the request of the author.

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Leaders and changemakers of today face unique and complex challenges. The HEAD Foundation Digest features insights and opinions from those in the know addressing a wide range of pertinent issues that factor in a society’s development. 

Informed opinions can inspire healthy discussions and open up our imagination to new possibilities. Interested in contributing? Write to us at info@headfoundation

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