Abstract
This article examines the realignment of nationalist higher education in Indonesia to suit market interests. Using a cultural political economy approach to knowledge and power, this article selects and analyses university policy reforms and narratives in Indonesia that have guided university reform in the past decades. It suggests that the reorganisation of Indonesia’s higher education sector can be understood through the relationship between structural change in the global economy, which occurs together with cultural shifts within national and local conditions. It looks at how universities and higher education policies are organised in post-authoritarian Indonesia under the framework of neoliberal governance, which prioritises producing knowledge that aligns with the market imperatives. It argues that the marketisation of higher education discursively and materially reconfigures New Order-style development planning and stylises it into ways that accommodate neoliberal demands.
Bahasa Abstract
Artikel ini mengkaji penataan ulang pendidikan tinggi Indonesia yang nasional agar sejalan dengan kepentingan pasar. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan ekonomi politik budaya terhadap pengetahuan dan kekuasaan, makalah ini memilih dan menganalisis narasi dan reformasi kebijakan di Indonesia yang mengawal reformasi universitas selama beberapa dekade terakhir. Temuan menunjukkan bahwa reorganisasi neoliberal pada sektor pendidikan tinggi di Indonesia dapat dipahami melalui hubungan antara perubahan struktural ekonomi global yang terjadi bersamaan dengan pergeseran budaya nasional dan lokal. Tulisan ini adalah kajian mengenai bagaimana kebijakan universitas dan pendidikan tinggi diatur di Indonesia pasca-otoritarian di bawah pemerintah dalam kerangka tata kelola neoliberal, yang memprioritaskan produksi pengetahuan yang seturut pasar. Makalah ini berargumen bahwa marketisasi pendidikan tinggi secara diskursif dan material merekonfigurasi perencanaan Pembangunan a la Orde Baru dan menyesuaikannya dengan cara-cara yang cocok dengan tuntutan neoliberal.
References
Achwan, Rochman, Meuthia Ganie-Rochman, Andi Rahman Alamsyah, and Lidya Triana. 2020. “University reform and the development of social sciences in Indonesia.” International Journal of Educational Development (78)102269:1-9.
Allan, Kori. 2018. “‘Investment in me’: Uncertain futures and debt in the intern economy”. Pp. 245-263 in The New Normal of Working Lives: Critical studies in contemporary work and employment, edited by Stephanie Taylor, Susan Luckman. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
Anderson, Benedict. 2006. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London and New York: Verso.
Bourchier, David, and Vedi Hadiz. 2003. Indonesian politics and society: A reader. London: Routledge.
Budiman, Hikmat. 2013. “Renegotiating unity and diversity: Multiculturalism in post-Suharto Indonesia”. Pp: 189-209 in Nations, National Narrative sand Communities in the Asia-Pacific, edited by Norman Vasu, Yolanda Chin, Kam-yee Law. London: Routledge.
Burawoy, Michael. 2021. Public Sociology: Between Utopia and Anti-Utopia. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Carnoy, Martin, and Joel Samoff. 2014. Education and Social Transition in the Third World (Vol. 1044). Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Cummings, William K., and Salman Kasenda. 1989. “The origin of modern Indonesian higher education”. Pp. 143-166 in From dependence to autonomy: The development of Asian universities, edited by Philip G. Altbach and Viswanathan Selvaratnam. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Defrizal, Defrizal, Appin Purisky Redaputri, Vonny Tiara Narundana, Nurdiawansyah Nurdiawansyah, and Yanuarius Yanu Dharmawan. 2022. “The Merdeka Belajar kampus merdeka program: An analysis of the success factors.” Nusantara: Jurnal Pendidikan Indonesia, 2(1):123–140.
Dhakidae, Daniel. 2003. Cendekiawan dan kekuasaan dalam negara Orde Baru. Jakarta: Gramedia Pustaka Utama.
Dzulfikar, Luthfi. 2020. “Monash in Indonesia: stimulus for international research or doom for local universities?”. The Conversation. Retrieved 25 August 2024: https://theconversation.com/monash-in-indonesia-stimulus-for-international-research-or-doom-for-local-universities-131801
Ferary, D. 2021. On Ki Hadjar Dewantara’s philosophy of education. Nordic Journal of Comparative and International Education (NJCIE) 5(2):65-78.
Foucault, Michel. 1980. “Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977.” New York: Pantheon
Goss, Andrew. 2011. The Floracrats: State-Sponsored Science and the Failure of the Enlightenment in Indonesia. Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Gramsci, Antonio. 2011. Prison notebooks volume 2 (Vol. 2). New York: Columbia University Press.
Guggenheim, Scott. (2012). “Indonesia’s quiet springtime: knowledge, policy and reform”. Pp: 141-169 in Indonesia Rising: The repositioning of Asia’s third giant, edited by Anthony J. Reid. Singapore: Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Hadiz, Vedi R., and Daniel Dhakidae. 2005. Social Science and Power in Indonesia. Singapore and Jakarta: ISEAS and Equinox Publishing.
Hall, Richard. 2018. The alienated academic: The struggle for autonomy inside the university. London: Palgrave MacMillan.
Heryanto, Ariel and Nancy Lutz. 1988. The development of “Development”. Indonesia, (46):1-24.
Hofstadter, Richard. 2017. Academic Freedom in the Age of the College. New York: Routledge.
Jarvis, Darryl S.L. and Ka Ho Mok. 2019. “The political economy of higher education governance in Asia: Challenges, trends and trajectories”. Pp. 1-46 in Transformations in higher education governance in Asia: Policy, politics and progress, edited by Ka Ho Mok and Darryl Jarvis. Singapore: Springer.
Jessop, Bob. 2010 “Cultural Political Economy and Critical Policy Studies”, Critical Policy Studies 3(3):336–56.
Jessop, Bob, Norman Fairclough, and Ruth Wodak. 2008. Education and the Knowledge-Based Economy in Europe. Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers.
Lane, Max. 2008. Unfinished nation: Indonesia before and after Suharto. London and New Jersey: Verso Books.
Lee, Molly N.N. 2007. “Higher education in Southeast Asia in the era of globalisation”. Pp. 539-555 in the International handbookHigher Educationtion, edited by James Forest and Philip G. Altbach. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.
Levidow, Les. 2002. “Marketising higher education: Neoliberal strategies and counter-strategies”. Pp. 227-248 in The Virtual University?: Knowledge, Markets and Management, edited by Kevin Robins and Frank Webster. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Levy, David, and Maureen Scully. 2007. “The Institutional Entrepreneur as Modern Prince: The Strategic Face of Power in Contested Fields.” Organisation Studies 28(7):971–91.
Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kementerian Pendidikan, Kebudayaan, Riset dan Teknologi). 2023. “The Merdeka Entrepreneuship Programme (Program Wirausaha Merdeka).” Retrieved 26 July 2024 from wirausahamerdeka.kampusmerdeka.kemdikbud.go.id
Mok, Ka Ho. 2021. “Managing neo-liberalism with Chinese characteristics: The rise of education markets and Higher education governance in China.” International Journal of Educational Development 84:102401.
Mok, Ka Ho. 2011. “Regional responses to globalisation challenges: the assertion of soft power and changing university governance in Singapore, Hong Kong and Malaysia”. Pp. 40-58 in Handbook on Globalization and Higher Education, edited by Roger King, Simon Marginson and Rajani Naidoo. Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA, USA: Edward Elgar.
Murphy, Ann Marie, and Bridget Welsh. 2008. Legacy of Engagement in Southeast Asia. Singapore: ISEAS Publications.
Nartey, Mark, and Isaac N. Mwinlaaru. 2019. “Towards a decade of synergising corpus linguistics and critical discourse analysis: a meta-analysis.” Corpora, 14(2):203-235.
Nugroho, Heru. 2005. “The Political Economy of Higher Education: The University as an Arena for the Struggle for Power”. Pp. 143-165 in Social Science and Power in Indonesia, edited by Vedi R. Hadiz and Daniel Dhakidae. Singapore and Jakarta: ISEAS and Equinox.
Oey-Gardiner, May Ling. 1991. “Policy-making in higher education and implications for equity”. Pp. 77-95 in Indonesia Assessment 1991: Political and Social Change Monograph 13, edited by Hal Hill. Canberra: Australian National University.
Oleksiyenko, Anatoly V., Sheng-Ju Chan, Stephanie K. Kim, William Yat Wai Lo, and Keenan Daniel Manning. 2021. “World-class universities and international student mobility: Repositioning strategies in the Asian Tigers.” Research in Comparative and International Education, 16(3):295-317.
Radyati, Maria R. Nindita, and Benny Tjahjono. 2021. “The new social economy in Indonesia: Features, Recent Development and Challenges”. Pp. 73-94 in The New Social and Impact Economy: An International Perspective, edited by Benjamin Gidron and Anna Domaradzka. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Rakhmani, Inaya. 2021. “Reproducing academic insularity in a time of neo-liberal markets: The case of social science research in Indonesian state universities.” Journal of Contemporary Asia 51(1):64-86.
Rakhmani, Inaya, Zulfa Sakhiyya, Afra S. Ramadhan, and Wirawan Agahari. 2020. “Doing Research in Indonesia.” Jakarta/New Delhi: Centre for Innovation Policy and Governance & The Global Development Network Country Report. Retrieved 1 August 2024: https://www.gdn.int/sites/default/files/Indonesia% 20Country%20Report.pdf.
Robison, Richard. 2009. Indonesia: The Rise of Capital. Jakarta and Kuala Lumpur: Equinox Publishing.
Roosa, John. 2006. Pretext for Mass Murder: The September 30th Movement and Suharto’s Coup d’État in Indonesia. Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Rosser, Andrew. 2011. “Donors, neo-liberalism and country ownership in Southeast Asia”. Pp. 174-185 in Routledge Handbook of Southeast Asian Politics, edited by Richard Robison. London: Routledge.
Rüegg, Walter. 2004. A history of the university in Europe: Volume 3, universities in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (1800–1945). Vol. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sakhiyya, Zulfa. 2022. “Cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitics? The roles of university elites in the internationalisation of Indonesian higher education.” Globalisation, Societies and Education 1-13.
Simpson, Bradley R. 2008. Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S.-Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Sobri, Ahmad Yusuf, Adam Voak, Brian Fairman, and Surjani Wonorahardjo. 2023. “Engaging With industry through internships in order to acquire the skills, knowledge and attitudes for the world of work: The Indonesian student experience.” Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 23(9):1–17.
Westad, Odd Arne. 2005. The global Cold War: Third World interventions and the making of our times. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Voak, Adam, Abdullah Helmy, Brian Fairman, and Anggi Afriansyah. 2024. “Kampus merdeka: Indonesia’s once-in-a-generation response to educational reform.” TVET@sia 22:1-21.
White, Ben. 2005. “Between Apologia and Critical Discourse: Agrarian transitions and scholarly engagement in Indonesia”. Pp. 107-142 in Social Science and Power in Indonesia, edited by Vedi R. Hdiz and Daniel Dhakidae. Singapore and Jakarta: ISEAS and Equinox Publishing.
Yasih, Diatyka. W. P. 2023. “Normalising and resisting the new precarity: a case study of the Indonesian gig economy.” Critical Sociology, 49(4-5): 847-863.
Recommended Citation
Rakhmani, Inaya
(2024)
"“Merdeka Belajar”: A Cultural Political Economy of Indonesia’s Neoliberalising Nationalist University,"
Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi: Vol. 29:
No.
1, Article 6.
DOI: 10.7454/MJS.v29i1.13573
Available at:
https://scholarhub.ui.ac.id/mjs/vol29/iss1/6
Response to reviewers
MJS_2024_Merdeka Belajar_rev.docx (72 kB)
Revised article
Included in
Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Development Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, Human Geography Commons, International and Area Studies Commons, Nature and Society Relations Commons, Organizational Communication Commons, Sociology Commons
