The Long-Term Impact of the Merdeka Campus Needs to be Studied

The long-term impact of the Merdeka Campus is deemed to need to be studied more deeply in terms of scientific mastery competency.

KOMPAS/ESTER LINCE NAPITUPULU

The second Campus Merdeka Festival on Turtle Island in Denpasar, Bali, took place on Monday (November 14, 2022). Around 400 Indonesian students were enlightened about the challenges of Indonesia's and the world's future.

JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The implementation of the Merdeka Belajar policy Free Campus is claimed to be successful in transforming higher education by preparing graduates ready for work. However, the long-term impact of this policy on strengthening the identity and competence of graduates' scientific mastery needs to be studied.

That was conveyed by Edi Subkhan, a lecturer at Semarang State University (Unnes), in a webinar entitled "The Impacts of the MBKM Program on Academic Tradition: Liberation or Erosion of Identity?" held by Unnes Student Publishing and Press Agency (BP2M) on Saturday night, April 27, 2024.

Edi stated that when discussing the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) policy launched by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), the prominent aspect is the program of students' right to learn outside the campus, which is recognized as credits for a semester unit (SKS).

However, MBKM also includes programs that facilitate campuses or study programs (prodi) to open and close prodi, ease in accreditation, as well as ease for state universities (PTN) with unitary status to become Public Service Agency (BLU) PTN, then BLU that becomes Legal Entity PTN.

Also read: Independent Campuses Begin to Produce More Superior Graduates

According to Edi, the prominent idea of MBKM is to provide the right to study for students outside of campus. This means that it is a student's right and not their obligation.

If students want to further develop themselves, they can participate in learning activities off campus through Kemendikbudristek's flagship program or independently facilitated by the campus, such as certified internships and independent studies (MSIB).

Several other flagship programs include Campus Teaching, student exchange programs both domestically and internationally, as well as entrepreneurship. Students also have the right to specialize in their chosen field of study within the campus.

"Generally, students are happy because they have the opportunity to learn outside of campus. However, the MBKM program has become a target of both the government and campuses, requiring a large number of students to participate in learning outside of campus," he said. As a result, campuses compete to ensure many students pass the MBKM program.

However, there are potential "losses" as a long-term impact. Learning activities outside the campus require the campus or lecturer to equate or align a number of courses in the curriculum structure of the study program to be in line with the activities of students outside the campus.

"The problem is whether the equivalence carried out is truly in line with the scientific competencies that students must master," he said.

As a lecturer, he feels that the weakness of students in research methodology, logical thinking, and data analysis is becoming increasingly apparent. This is partly due to some courses being replaced with off-campus activities in order to fulfill up to 20 credit hours of recognition.

The problem is whether the equivalence carried out is truly in line with the scientific competencies that students must master.

"There is the potential that students will not have time to learn some essential things because they study outside campus for 1-2 semesters. "This needs to be criticized and studied objectively," said Edi.

Feeling lost of identity

Novia Kurniasari, a student of the Guidance and Counseling study program at Unnes, stated that the offer of the Merdeka Campus program, which allows students to participate in learning programs outside the campus, is certainly enjoyable.

She once participated in a student exchange program through the Independent Student Program (PMM) at one of the universities in Makassar, South Sulawesi. "I met many friends from various campuses, was able to take courses outside of the Counseling and Career Development Study Program, and could learn about other regional cultures," said Novia.

When she studied at another campus, she also found that some of the course options for out-of-school education programs were not relevant to her because the teaching from the lecturers did not provide any added value to her. She took some guidance and counseling courses, but they were different from the ones at her own campus.

Novia also took advantage of the choice to study outside of campus by joining MSIB. Initially, she wanted to choose an internship in the counseling field, in line with her major and plans to become a teacher or counselor after graduation. Unfortunately, during the test, she actually passed for a company related to managing social media and inventory.

"On one hand, I am happy to gain learning experience outside of campus. Learning and working in a company outside of my field of study. But, me and my friends who have experienced the same thing, feel like we are losing our identity as BK students because we are learning far from our academic identity," said Novia.

Also read: Maintain the Quality of Off-Campus Learning through the Independent Campus

KOMPAS/ESTER LINCE NAPITUPULU

Representatives from various industries in the energy and automotive sectors presented "green" job opportunities to students who attended the Vokasifest X Festival Kampus Merdeka event in Jakarta on Monday (11/12/2023). The readiness of university graduates to enter the green workforce is open through internships in the Kampus Merdeka program.

Now uncertainty arose within him. Off-campus experiences open up insight into career options. "I started to think whether it was possible to change the career that I had envisioned as a counselor to another field," said Novia.

The same message was conveyed by other students, Rifki, who is majoring in Japanese language education at Unnes. He passed the Kampus Merdeka program for independent studies related to the development of Android applications. Actually, this is not uncommon as he is a graduate of a vocational high school in the field of software engineering.

"I chose Japanese language program because my parents wanted me to become a teacher and the opportunity to study at a state university was greater. Seeing the problem of low teacher welfare, when there was an option to study outside of campus, I thought about deepening my knowledge in more prospective information technology. I am considering a career change," said Rifki.

According to Edi, from various cases related to the implementation of students' right to learn outside of campus, improvements and evaluations are also needed in program registration to align with the needs of students.

There are students who want to become more professional in their field, while others are still open to finding career opportunities that suit them.

"Campus is not just for producing ready-to-use labor. Campus is also a medium for maturing students towards where they want to go and what they want to become in the future," said Edi.

Meanwhile, Unnes lecturer, Dhoni Zustiyantoro, said, MBKM is like two sides of a coin. The structural intention of the curriculum is good and progressive. When compared to the educational curriculum of developed countries, it is similar to liberal arts in the United States and Europe.

However, during the journey of MBKM (Mata Kuliah Bebas Pilihan), a number of paradoxes were found. Students enjoy studying outside their majors, but some are starting to have doubts. "From a critical perspective, it is necessary to examine whether through MBKM, there is an intention of the government to undermine the student movement," he said.

So that students do not engage in various movements, organize themselves, and criticize the government, they are kept busy with Kampus Merdeka through job preparations. There is a critical voice stating that this could have an impact on the role of students, namely in safeguarding democracy and social change in society.