79 Hence, teachers as the knowledge providers for their students have a crucial role to play.
This implies that there are new pressuresexpectations on Indonesian teachers to create more student-centered instruction that will improve the quality of students’ learning.
The teachers are therefore expected to continuously improve their teaching. Through the lens of Bourdieu’s sociological theory, the covering content in curriculum that
encourages more student-centered learning can be seen as a game in HEIs. The player in this field must create their own curricular strategies or address each of the curriculum
content objectives to create better learning opportunities for the students. The players who are able to play the game can access the most capital. The penalty for not playing
the game according to the rules could be accused as being unprofessional. The next subsection of this chapter discusses the differences between public and private HEIs.
4.2.1 Public vs. private higher education institution in Indonesia
HEIs in Indonesia are categorised into two types: public and private, both of which are supervised by either the Ministry of National Education MONE or Ministry
of Religious Affairs MORA. According to Wicaksono and Friawan 2011, p. 163, “the public HEIs are under the jurisdiction of the State Treasury Law, Education System
Law and Civil Servant Law and are treated as part of the ministry. Private HEIs are regulated under the foundation and Education System Law, and are considered the
business arm of foundation”. The number of Indonesian HEIs is shown in Table 5 below, which is taken from the statistics of Ministry of Higher Education 20092010.
Type MONE
MORA Public
Private Total
Public Private
Total
University 48
412 460
6 87
93 Institute
6 47
53 14
26 40
Advanced School Sekolah tinggi
1 1,314
1,316 32
409 441
Academy 1,015
1,015 Polytechnic
27 140
167
Total 83
2,928 3,011
52 522
574
Table 5: Indonesian higher education institutions in 20092010
80 As described in the above table, the current higher education system in Indonesia
consists of 135 public and 3,450 private HEIs. Advanced schools occupy the largest number. The World Bank 2010, p. 8 stated that “although the public institutions only
account for 4 percent of the total number of institutions, they account for 32 percent of the total enrolments with the remaining 68 percent enrolled in private institutions.
Among public universities nearly half evolved from teacher training institutes LPTK, FKIP”. Hence, the process of student admission in public universities is very
competitive. In addition, teacher training programs in Indonesia have attracted a number of students due to its popularity that, in turn, provides more capital for the students.
There are differences between public and private HEIs including their quality, admission process, sources of financing, and academic staff. There is a widely-held
perception about the quality difference between public and private HEIs. Fahmi 2007, p. 4 pointed out that “private schools in developed countries have a high quality
learning system and environment, however, the opposite conditions apply in Indonesia. The private schools in Indonesia are a second choice after public schools for Indonesia
prospective students”. In addition, Buchori and Malik 2004 remarked that even though the number of private HEIs is much higher than public HEIs, most of them are of a
relatively lower quality because of poor resources. Furthermore, when asked about this concern, students of KUM pseudonym stated:
To me, umm… studying in a public university is so exclusive because everybody knows that it’s not easy to be admitted there. It has also more
teaching and learning facilities with the qualified lecturers. In contrast, private universities lack of necessary facilities so that the students cannot study
effectively and maximally Rara, Interview 1, 30052012.
The system of teaching and learning in public universities is better than private ones. The students of public universities also have more motivations to learn
and they get better teaching facilities so that they are more qualified. However, the rules in public universities are stricter Budi, Interview 1, 30052012.
The above statements show the students’ view that public HEIs provide better facilities to support their learning and that the public HEIs entrance system is a highly
competitive process. The students who are able to study at public universities in Indonesia are considered to have more capital, and to have dominant position in the
81 field. As a result, a lot of students compete in the field to be able to attain educational
credential through studying at a public university. Nizam 2006, p. 42 mentioned that:
Every year, more than 450,000 high school graduates take the national public university entrance examination to compete for 75,000 seats in public
universities. In addition, many public universities scout for and recruit potential students from the provinces, accounting for 10-20 percent of the total capacity.
This leaves a shortfall of more than 360,000 high school graduates who can either apply to private universities or enter the job market with limited skills and
formal education.
The above statement indicates that large numbers of students in Indonesia consider enrolling in HEIs because like other countries, “most Indonesians still regard education
as the only viable choice for vertical mobility in economic and social status” Nizam, 2006, p. 37. The above statement also shows that public universities are considered to
have better qualities than private universities and attract a greater number of students to compete in the admission process. Studying at a private university or getting a job
becomes the “second” option if the student cannot pass the entrance examination. Nizam 2006, p. 42 claimed that to be admitted into a public university “requires
access to a quality high school education and extra tuition to prepare for the examination”. As a result, students from lower income families cannot afford to pay the
extra tuition. In addition, Buchori and Malik 2004 mentioned that most of the students who do not pass the public university entrance examination and then choose to enroll at
a private university are from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Accordingly, as the sub- field of teacher participants in this study is at a private university, it is occupied by a
majority of lower-class students with low-ability. The teachers therefore have more challenges to teach in a private university. They need to provide the students with more
reinforcement for accomplishment, appropriate level of the teaching materials, nonthreatening environment, and so forth.
There is also a difference in financial sources between public and private HEIs. Moeliodihardjo 2000, p. 14 stated that in the past, “public institutions receive a
government subsidy and charge minimal tuition from students. Most or all staff are civil servants and have to follow the universal civil service salary structure”. However, the
funding of public HEIs is now from government subsidies, student tuition fees, support from donors and charities, and collaboration with other parties, especially in the private
82 sector. In contrast, the main funding of private HEIs is derived from student tuition fees.
Other sources are from charitable donations and collaboration with other parties. In addition, the government subsidizes private HEIs in the form of employment of
academic staff Buchori Malik, 2004. Moeliodihardjo 2000, p. 8 claimed that “among the 2,766 private institutions, only a handful have successfully attracted an
adequate number of students, whilst the majority are small and are struggling to survive”. In other words, student enrolment is a critical issue for private HEIs.
Emirbayer and Williams 2005, p. 691 state that, “capitals function both as weapons and as stakes in the struggle to gain ascendancy within fields”. Accordingly, private
universities in Indonesia compete for attracting students. In order to fight for prime position in the field and to have the access to attain more capitals, private universities in
Indonesia, including Kanjuruhan University of Malang KUM, need to do more promotion and innovation such as creating an effective and distinct curriculum that is
suitable with students’ need or offering a student exchange program to attract the student enrollment. They need to equip themselves with the brand to improve the
credibility in the community since “players follow strategies to try to distinguish themselves within the field by accumulating higher level or different types of capital
from their competitors” Brosnan, 2010, p. 647.
4.2.2 Accreditation in the Indonesian higher education system
