Indonesia Should Improve Higher Education Before Building URI, Says Lecturer

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Lecturer from the Department of Indonesian Language and Literature Education at Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY), Pangesti Wiedarti, assesses that the government should prioritize strengthening the quality and welfare of lecturers before building Universitas Republik Indonesia (URI). She believes that the main challenge for higher education in Indonesia at the moment is not the lack of higher education institutions, but the improvement of the quality of human resources within them.

"We need to focus on strengthening the quality of lecturers, improving welfare, expanding student access, and consolidating institutional quality as a priority before adding new large-scale institutions," said Pangesti, in a press statement received by Tempo at the end of July 2026.

The administration of President Prabowo Subianto previously planned to establish ten campuses of Universitas Republik Indonesia. The institution is projected to be an entity that prepares prospective civil servants, government officials, and state-owned enterprise employees.

According to Pangesti, the quality of higher education is highly dependent on the capacity of lecturers. However, until now, the improvement of lecturers' academic qualifications still faces various obstacles, especially inadequate welfare.

This literacy activist reminds that lecturers bear the responsibility of carrying out the Tridharma of Higher Education, which includes education and teaching, research, and community service. Therefore, the state and higher education institutions cannot continue to demand that lecturers fulfill all these obligations if their welfare is not met.

Pangesti also mentioned the issue of lecturers' welfare, which has even become the subject of a judicial review of Law Number 14 of 2005 concerning Teachers and Lecturers at the Constitutional Court.

In addition to improving welfare, Pangesti urges the government to develop a more flexible lecturer career system. One of the models she deems worthy of consideration is the separation of lecturer career paths based on competencies, as applied at Muhammadiyah University of Yogyakarta (UMY).

In this scheme, lecturers can choose to focus on teaching, research, or community service, so that not all lecturers are burdened with the same demands.

"I support the idea as a model that needs to be tested and evaluated. The government does not have to implement it nationally right away. The government can test it in several higher education institutions, then assess its impact on the quality of learning and research before formulating policies," she said.

Pangesti also believes that the improvement of the quality of higher education cannot be separated from the improvement of primary and secondary education. According to her, the academic ability of students when entering higher education is greatly influenced by the quality of education they received in the previous levels.

Regarding the establishment plan of URI, Pangesti stated that the goal of building an institution that produces public leaders with integrity is a good idea. However, she believes that the government should first explain the added value offered by URI compared to existing higher education institutions.

She questioned the urgency of establishing a new university if needs such as strengthening leadership, integrity, and national insight can still be addressed through strengthening the curricula of existing higher education institutions or through collaboration with the National Administration Institute (LAN).

According to Pangesti, if the government continues with the plan, the more appropriate step is to prepare an academic outline and blueprint containing national needs, institutional goals, learning models, funding schemes, lecturer needs, success indicators, and evaluation mechanisms.

She also suggested that the government start URI as a pilot project on a limited scale before building ten campuses at once. She said that the results of the trial need to be openly evaluated so that the public can assess the effectiveness of the policy before it is widely applied. "Without such a foundation, the new institution may grow physically, but may not necessarily produce results commensurate with the cost incurred by the state," said Pangesti.

As an alternative, Pangesti encourages the government to strengthen existing higher education institutions, including consolidating campuses that require academic and financial support. According to her, this step has the potential to improve the quality of higher education without having to establish many new institutions.

On the other hand, she also asked the government to open transparent discussions through hearings with the DPR and to publicize the academic outline, roadmap, budget projections, success indicators, and evaluation results if URI is to be established.

"The government needs to prove the urgency of establishing URI openly. If designed carefully, URI can become an experiment in educational leadership reform that is beneficial for Indonesia," she said.

On Wednesday, July 22, 2026, Prabowo Subianto inaugurated Deputy Defense Minister Donny Ermawan Taufanto as the Governor of Universitas Republik Indonesia. At the same time, Yos Sunitiyoso, a business professor at Bandung Institute of Technology, was inaugurated as the vice governor.

The inauguration took place at the State Palace, Jakarta. After the inauguration, Donny stated that Universitas Republik Indonesia is a new higher education institution designed to educate future government officials and leaders of state-owned enterprises (BUMN). "The President is very concerned about human resources, especially for future leaders of Indonesia," he said on Wednesday.

According to Donny, Universitas Republik Indonesia plans to establish 10 campuses. Its graduates will obtain academic degrees similar to graduates of other higher education institutions.

Read: Indonesian Lecturer Tells Court His Rp3.3 Million Pay Is Too Low

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