School of Medicine of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) ranks 103rd

Slamet Susanto , The Jakarta Post , Yogyakarta | Wed, 10/14/2009 4:41 PM | National

The School of Medicine at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) has again improved its world ranking by three places to sit at 103rd, a survey has revealed.

The Times Higher Education Survey (THES) QS World University Rankings 2009 , Life Sciences and Biomedicine category surveyed 1,000 medical faculties around the world and published its results last Friday.

The University of Indonesia's (UI) School of Medicine and that of Airlangga University rank 126th and 224th.

Dean of the School of Medicine at UGM Ali Ghufron Mukti said Wednesday that his office had upgraded its management system to increase the quality of all lecturers, students and other related staff over the past three years.

“We expect this achievement will contribute to UGM's efforts to become a world-class university,” he said.

Teaching college aims to raise education standards

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Thu, 10/08/2009 11:42 AM | National

Seventeen-year-old Sufyan Suri could not hide his enthusiasm when he spoke of his dream to become a teacher.

The high school graduate from Kotabaru, South Kalimantan, leaned forward and used hand gestures to emphasize Indonesia's need for more skilled teachers and to redefine its teacher-student relationship.

"There is a gap between teachers and students that restricts them from effectively communicating with each other," he told The Jakarta Post at the Sampoerna School of Education college in Jakarta on Wednesday. "We need to change this.

"Students should feel comfortable approaching their teachers."

Sufyan and 88 other students, all from underprivileged families, were granted scholarships yesterday from Indonesia's first private teachers college.

Forty-three students received full scholarships worth more than Rp 223 million (US$23,000) each. The remaining 46 were granted scholarships that covered their tuition fees for four years, worth Rp 168 million each.

The students were selected out of 1,200 applicants to major in mathematics or English at the undergraduate institution. Seventy-one students were from Java, 14 from Sumatra, two from Bali and two from Kalimantan.

Paulina Pannen, the school's dean, said she wanted to ensure students were provided with the skills to become highly qualified teachers, exceeding international standards.

The school has teamed up with Iowa University in the US, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, and Massey University in New Zealand to develop its curriculum.

"We encourage our students to research and develop innovative teaching methodologies," she said.

The school has been structured to qualify students as senior high school teachers. To aid their learning, the school requires students to complete an internship, teaching in high schools for one semester in their final year.

"Our students will teach in one of the 17 state senior high schools and five Madrasah *Muslim schools* that the Sampoerna Foundation supports," she said.

The foundation, established by tobacco giant PT Hanjaya Mandala Sampoerna, has been providing schools with assistance to improve teacher quality through its United Schools Program.

Muchlas, from the Directorate of Higher Education at the National Education Ministry, said he hoped the school would enhance education in each of Indonesia's regions.

"I would like to see the school's graduates return to their respective regions to improve education across the country," he added.

Paulina said she strongly encouraged her students to apply their knowledge in their hometowns. She said that was where teachers were needed because schools in cities had "relatively adequate facilities" and many skilled teachers.

"Sampoerna graduates will be great assets to their regions because they are being trained to become highly skilled teachers," she added.

Sufyan said he looked forward to teaching in his hometown.

"We must give back to our communities and help them to prosper," he said. (adh)

Teachers are Encouraged to Conduct Research

Excerpt:
Teachers who have got their professional certification and benefit are encouraged to conduct research and attend training programs on teaching methodology and material development to further enhance their professional development. Such a policy, which aims at monitoring and improving teachers' quality, will be implemented after the certification process is completed.

Guru Diarahkan Adakan Penelitian
Upaya Meningkatkan Kualitas Setelah Sertifikasi
Sabtu, 10 Oktober 2009 | 03:59 WIB

Jakarta, Kompas - Untuk meningkatkan kualitas tenaga pendidik, guru yang sudah memperoleh sertifikasi dan tunjangan guru akan tetap dipantau. Pemantauan termasuk juga pemberikan pelatihan metode pengajaran, materi pengajaran, dan melakukan penelitian.

Menteri Pendidikan Nasional Bambang Sudibyo menilai perlu ada kebijakan yang mendorong guru dan dosen untuk mengembangkan diri dengan melakukan penelitian. ”Pelan-pelan dirumuskan sambil menunggu proses sertifikasi selesai,” kata Bambang Sudibyo seusai meresmikan perluasan perpustakaan Departemen Pendidikan Nasional, Kamis (8/10).

Ketua Pengurus Besar Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia (PGRI) Unifah Rosyidi, Jumat (9/10), mengingatkan perlunya pengawasan kinerja guru.

”Peningkatan mutu dan profesionalisme guru tidak boleh berhenti pada program sertifikasi. Kepala sekolah juga bisa memperketat rekomendasi kenaikan pangkat jika kinerja guru tidak maksimal,” katanya.

Perlu dorongan

Rektor Universitas Indonesia Prof Dr Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri mengingatkan komitmen meningkatkan kualitas guru tidak bisa hanya mengandalkan tekad pribadi saja, tetapi juga perlu ada dorongan dari sekolah dan pemerintah.

”Sertifikasi itu tidak cukup hanya tes evaluasi, tetapi tetap harus ada pelatihan rutin sehingga akan terlihat kekuatan dan kelemahan masing-masing,” ujar Gumilar.

Gumilar mengusulkan ada semacam pemberian penghargaan dan sanksi hukuman (reward and punishment) yang jelas terhadap guru. Secara bertahap guru diawasi oleh kepala sekolah dan kepala sekolah diawasi oleh pengawas sekolah.

Senior Consultant Putera Sampoerna School of Education, S Gopinathan, mengatakan, meningkatkan kualitas guru antara lain dengan menciptakan tradisi penelitian. Berbagai persoalan seputar pendidikan tidak kunjung jelas karena minimnya penelitian kependidikan. ”Selama ini sebagian besar tenaga pendidik hanya memusatkan perhatian pada peningkatan kemampuan mengajar saja,” ujarnya.

Padahal tenaga pendidik harus tahu masalah yang dihadapi anak didik. (LUK/ELN)

University of Indonesia Ranks 201 of World's 500 Best Universities

Excerpt:
The University of Indonesia (UI) is ranked 201 out of 500 world's best universities by Times Higher Education-QS World University Ranking or THESS this year, up 86 points from last year's 287. This new rank puts UI as one of the elite universities in Asia (rank 34) and one of the best universities in ASEAN (rank 5).

IEI - 9 October 2009

UI Capai Peringkat Ke-201 Dunia
Jumat, 9 Oktober 2009 | 04:18 WIB

Jakarta, Kompas - Lembaga pembuat peringkat perguruan tinggi (Times Higher Education-QS World University Ranking atau THESS) menyatakan bahwa Universitas Indonesia menduduki peringkat ke-201 dari 500 universitas terbaik di dunia.

”Ini pencapaian yang luar biasa. Pada tahun lalu UI berada di peringkat ke-287 dan tahun 2007 peringkat ke-395,” kata Rektor UI Prof Dr Gumilar Rusliwa Somantri, Kamis (8/10).

Dari hasil survei THESS terhadap 5.000 perguruan tinggi di dunia, berarti kini UI masuk dalam jajaran universitas elite di Asia (peringkat ke-34) dan ASEAN (peringkat ke-5). Penilaian THESS antara lain berdasarkan indikator performa dalam bidang riset dan publikasi, pengajaran, penginternasionalan, dan performa lulusan dalam kaitan dengan penyerapan tenaga kerja.

Seiring dengan naiknya peringkat UI, lanjut Gumilar, jumlah publikasi penelitian nasional dan internasional yang dilakukan peneliti UI naik dari 9.050 publikasi pada tahun 2008 menjadi 10.050 publikasi pada 2009. Pada kurun waktu yang sama jumlah peneliti UI naik dari 937 menjadi 1.005 peneliti. (LUK)

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Govt mulls over asking students to take more graduation exams

This article was originally published at The Jakarta Post.

Thu, 10/01/2009 11:31 AM | National

The government is considering whether to put in place more exams for students graduating from high and junior high schools, to assess their physical skills and behavior.

Secretary of the directorate general of elementary and secondary education at the National Education Ministry, Bambang Indriyanto, told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday that the ministry would test students across the country on subjects such as religion, sports and the arts, once the implementation of the national examinations ran smoothly.

"I hope we can do that in the next term," he said, referring to the next five-year period.

The 2005 regulation on national education standardization stipulates that five groups of subjects taught in school must be treated with the same level of importance when determining whether a student has passed the national exams.

The five groups are religion and morality, citizenship and character, science and technology, the arts, as well as sports and health.

So far, only subjects from the science and technology group are tested in the national exams.

Aside from Indonesian, mathematics and English exams taken in high school, junior high school students must also take a natural sciences exam.

Senior high students taking natural sciences classes are also required to pass physics, chemistry and biology exams. Those enrolled in social sciences classes must take economy, sociology and geography exams.

Experts have long criticized the concept and implementation of the national exams, saying it only assesses students' cognitive skills.

National education should not only shape students into knowledgeable individuals, but it should also give them a broad sets of soft skills and a good character, experts argue.

Noted education expert Arief Rachman said the country still needed a national exam. However, the government "had been mistaken in determining the passing criteria", he added. "They should not set the same minimum score for every school in the country. Every school has its own strengths and the government should take into consideration students' varying levels across schools in different regions."

The national exams require all students score an average of 5.5 to graduate.

He said forcing students to pass with a certain score only led them to cheat.

"But if their assessment was based on an average score in their own regions, we could minimize the cheating," he said.

Arief added that the national exams should never be used as a means to determine a school's level and quality.

The ministry, Bambang said, was using students' scores in the national exams to assess the quality of the schools across the country.

"We classify them according to their quality," he added.

The schools, he said, will be categorized into three levels: minimum service standard schools, national standard schools and international standard schools. (adh)