The Independent Campus Program for Higher Education in Indonesia: The Role of Government Support and the Readiness of Institutions, Lecturers, and Students

Abstract

This study seeks to analyze the relationship between the Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus) program of Indonesia and the readiness of stakeholders in universities, specifically whether the latter has a positive influence on implementing the program. The research applied a quantitative approach, which is suitable when trying to assess the appropriateness of an implemented educational program, while the analysis was informed by relevant prior research. It was necessary to learn whether there are internal and external factors support an implementation, so this research was conducted among private universities in Region IV (West Java and Banten Provinces) of the Higher Education Service Institutions of Indonesia with a sample of 111 lecturers. Based on the data analysis, the readiness of universities, lecturers, and students, as well as government support, were found to positively influence the implementation of the Independent Campus Program. More precisely, the effect revealed by the R² value was 10.4 percent. Of the four independent variables considered, the strongest influence came from government support, with an R² of 7.7 percent, followed by lecturer readiness (4.7 percent), student readiness (4.7 percent), and campus readiness (3.6 percent). All four of these independent variables therefore had a significant influence on the implementation of the Independent Campus Program, suggesting that any such implementation of the program must proceed in line with the preparedness of the relevant stakeholders. Strong support from the government also seems to be very important, however, if the Independent Campus Program is to achieve its goal of enhancing the capacity and quality of higher education in Indonesia.