Assessing the Contribution of the Higher Education Sector to Welfare Creation in Indonesia (HELFARE)

Assessing the Contribution of the Higher Education Sector to Welfare Creation in Indonesia (HELFARE)

Background

Higher education is at the forefront of contemporary developments to promote (social) equity and (economic) competitiveness. It is widely acknowledged that universities and other types of tertiary education institutions might help in promoting social mobility, job creation, institutional capacity building, and innovative capacity, amongst other aspects. The rise of a knowledge-based economy has increased the importance and relevance of high-level skills and competencies. Yet, in Indonesia as elsewhere, a number of key challenges remain. Economic growth suffers from geographic agglomeration, with significant socio-economic asymmetries amongst regions, and between urban and rural areas. Despite the gradual but steady development of mass higher education in Indonesia (from 10 higher education institutions and 6.500 students in 1950 to 2.975 institutions and more than 4.2 million students in 2009), problems of access still remain. By 2012, gross enrollment rate in tertiary education reached only 32% (compared to 51% in Thailand, 62% in Japan, or even 74% in Norway). At the same year, the participation rate of student from the lowest 40 per cent income group was only 10.2 per cent, compared to 51.2 per cent for the richest 20 per cent. 54 per cent of scholarship recipients are based in Java Island—the most developed island, while the percentage for other regions especially eastern regions has decreased. Citizens from rural or remote areas tend to face special issue: the lack of nearby higher education institutions with good quality. Despite the positive economic growth rates (around 6% of GDP annually), Indonesia still suffers from systematic social exclusion, what renown sociologist Manuel Castells terms the ‘black holes of informational capitalism’ (Castells 2010).

Study objectives

The objectives to be pursued in this research study are threefold:

1. To map-out key drivers and dynamics across the domestic higher education system in the last two decades;
2. To assess the role of higher education in promoting equity, by focusing on underprivileged segments of the population such as ethnic minorities or citizens in remote area;
3. To investigate the contribution of higher education institutions to the socio-economic development of their surrounding communities.

Research problem and Operationalization

What is the direct contribution of the Indonesian higher education sector to welfare creation?

This problem is operationalized around the following three research questions:

1. What were the factors – social, economic, political - driving major developments across the domestic higher education system in the last two decades, and how can recent sector-wide dynamics be characterized?
2. To what extent does higher education help promote social inclusion amongst disadvantaged groups in society?
3. What role, if any, do higher education institutions – both public and private - play when it comes to the broader socio-economic development of their surrounding communities (regional) and the nation as a whole (national)?

Methods

Multiple case study design will be applied to highlight the phenomena in two provinces in which two higher education (HE) institutions, public and private, will be selected from each province. Desktop review of the relevant policy documents, official statistics and governmental reports as well as interview with a number of key stakeholders (representing government and non-government actors) will be used to collect a set of targeted data. The research will be conduct in the period September 2015 – July 2017. The project builds on a collaborative arrangement between the University of Agder, Norway and Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia and is financially supported by both parties as well as Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The main goal of this program is to produce knowledge that is relevant both to fulfill the knowledge gap in research related to the impact of HE activities in society and to encourage the strengthening of HE institutions’ governance reforms in Indonesia. The result of the research will be published on international journal to comply its academic goal, while the policy brief will be submitted to the relevant government units, HEIs, and stakeholders in Indonesia.

Research team

Rómulo Pinheiro (Project leader), University of Agder, Norway

Puguh Utomo, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia & PhD fellow, UiA