SLEMAN - UPN "Veteran" Yogyakarta (UPNVY) held a National Education Day Ceremony (Hardiknas) eremony at the ceremony field on Wednesday (2/5/2018).

Hardiknas this year has the theme of "Strengthening Education, Developing Culture" proclaimed by the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud), with "Improving Higher Education, Increasing the Quality of Indonesian Human Resources" by the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education (Kemristekdikti).

Lecturers and education staff in UPNVY followed this Ceremony of Hardiknas.

UPNVY Rector, Prof. Sari Bahagiarti who served as the ceremony inspector delivered the speech of the Minister of Research and Technology, Mohamad Nasir as follewed :

Assalamu'alaikum wr. wb. Good morning and best wishes for all of us

 Ladies and Gentlemen Attending the Ceremonies of the National Education Day,

Alhamdulillah, let us always thanks to Allah SWT, the Merciful and Loving God because of His grace and guidance, we get the healthiness,

strength and opportunity to attend the peak of the National Education Day of 2018 on this day, Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in a solemn and loving atmosphere to the Motherland of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

For us as key stakeholders of education, May 2 is a very important day, full of meaning, inspiration, and motivation in advancing our national civilization through the development of human resources.

In the development of human resources itself, education, especially higher education, plays a key role. By not forgetting the type of informal and informal education, the role of higher education as  the final terminal of  formal education from primary, junior and senior high schools is very strategic in improving the quality of human resources. Why is it so? It’s because the higher education is a necessity to do research for the development of science and technology for the welfare of Indonesia and the world.

Today, we are witnessing the countries in the world increasingly striving to advance their higher education, not only in the learning system, but also within the scope of research, technology and innovation. It is seen from the international scientific publications in which each country relies on its own universities to have researches and publish them in reputable international scientific journals. For them, the existence of researches is very important in supporting the welfare of its society.

The imperative of universities to undertake the research and innovation is increasingly important in the disruptive social situation of the present era, especially with the encouragement of the Industrial Revolution 4.0. In his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Klaus Schwab explains the flow of revolution that incorporates physical, digital and biological technologies that affect all disciplines. Internet of things, genetic editing, artificial intelligent, big data mining, car swakendara, supercomputers, are forms of technology that revolutionize the way we live our lifes.

This revolution, on one hand, has changed the old traits and ways in many aspects of life, such as in the field of work and or profession that the graduates from college willhave. On the other hand, this revolution is a challenge that must be answered by higher education. Implementation of learning, including research done by college students must be able to answer this disruptive condition. If not, our higher education process cannot touch the real social reality.

Higher education institutions as the implementers of higher education must be more sensitive to all changes that occur in society. Universities should be sensitive to the challenges faced by the community, because of the sensitiveness, colleges can quickly provide recommendations and solutions to answer all the problems.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dealing with the industrial revolution 4.0, Kemenristekdikti has its movement. We initiated several policies to address the needs of this era. One policy that will soon be implemented is the Distance Education Program or PJJ, which Kemenristekdikti will issue permenristekdikti to support the implementation of this program in the near future. One implementation of the PJJ policy will be the development of Cyber ??University prepared for online learning. Higher education in the future will offer many choices of learning models, ranging from face to face, online learning, to blended learning. We cannot deny that the education nowadays has already been leading to online learning, although on the other hand, not a few universities are still experiencing obstacles in infrastructure.

In the future, the development of PJJ is expected to increase the public access in high quality education level significantly. Currently, the gross enrollment rate or new high APK is only 31.5%. In fact, if the learning is only applied conventionally, an increase in APK is only around 0.5% per year. However, with this PJJ breakthrough, it is expected that high APK can accelerate to 40% in 2022-2023, provided that PJJ can be accessed by more people and effectively applied.

On the other hand, it is no less important, the internationalization of higher education is the way of dealing the era of full turbulence.Globalization becomes something that absolutely happens.

That is, increasing the quality and competence of human resources must be elevated. Lecturers, students, and graduates scored by universities are required to be able to adapt all forms of change. The development of an international academic network is also strengthened by collaborating world-class academics to generate new findings.

Respected Ladies and Gentlemen

The research that leads to innovation becomes the leverage of the nation's economy. The problem is that the college that should be the research ‘candradimuka’ crater does not have visible results. From the perspective of some people, higher education is only seen as a ladder to pursue studies after completing high school. This is a challenge that we face together today, where higher education has not become  the public agenda of the society.

When referring to the Circular Letter of the Ministry of Education and Culture No. 17445 / MPK.A / TU / 2018, the theme of the 2018 National Hardiknas is " Strengthening Education, Developing Culture ". Nevertheless, Kemenristekdikti, based on the challenges faced in this disruption era, specifically had the sub-theme of Hardiknas in 2018 "Grounding Higher Education, Improving the Quality of Human Resources. In fact, as a real contribution, at the moment of Hardiknas year 2018, Kemenristekdikti also supports the national program by organizing a workshop titled "Higher Education Contribution to Realize Citarum Harum" which its implementation centered in Bandung on May 3. This workshop will be the forum for academics and stakeholders, as well as communities to sit together to find solutions to address issues that occur along the Citarum watershed from upstream to downstream.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We understand the theme as Indonesia's higher education should be able to answer the social problems that are currently increasing in number, both in its kind and substance. This hope can be realized by experts in their respective fields, which are generally produced by universities. The more qualified human resources produced by universities, in God willing, more and more alternative solutions can be given to answer the problems in society.

This thing  is consistent with Kemenristekdikti's own mission, which is to improve the access, relevance, and quality of higher education in producing quality human resources. The government is constantly expanding access for senior high school graduates to get  higher education by opening or increasing the seat capacity at PTN and PTS. For the relevance, the government continues to encourage the management of study programs directed to market needs. Meanwhile, in order to realize the improvement of quality, Kemenristekdikti also continues to encourage PTN and PTS to always boost the quality of institutions and learning process. These three pillars, including quality-relevance-access, are needed to create qualified human resources.

The effort of easing the higher education is also in line with the principles of higher education as stipulated in Law Number 12 Year 2012 on Higher Education, especially in the principle of benefits. Our higher education should benefit the surrounding environment, in addition to other principles, such as scientific truth, honesty, fairness, benevolence, responsibility, diversity, and affordability.

Moreover, the implementation of our higher education contains three elements of obligation: education, research, and community service which is then stated in Tri Dharma Pendidikan Tinggi. All three components must be grounded. Learning materials in classrooms, laboratories, and in open spaces must be contextual to the real world. Researches conducted by lecturers or students should be parts of the effort to solve social problems. Meanwhile, the dimension of community service is the media in direct contact with the effort to ease higher education.

In order to provide direction and pattern that are more systematic and measurable in the three basic obligations of higher education, we have provided the reference set in Permenristedikti No. 44 of 2015 on National Standards of Higher Education. With this permenristekdikti, we are eager that higher education can produce the qualified human resources as well as down to earth in Indonesia.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

If our colleges pay attention earnestly to Permenristedikti No. 44 of 2015, surely we can raise the quality of human resources of Indonesia. It is because it is impossible for a university to produce qualified human resources if the implementation of education does not meet the standards related to education, research, and community service.

Conversely, colleges that have met the national higher education standards, are certainly able to adjust to the changes that occur so quickly, as occurred in this disruption era. They have educators and academics who meet the standards, do recent research that standardized, and carry out community service with a certain standard so that universities will be familiar with various challenges.

Besides the Act of Dikti and Permenristekdikti, other policy that we apply to ground the high education as well as improving the quality of human resources of Indonesia is to open cooperation with various parties from abroad. The presence of world-class universities and lecturers with international qualifications and reputations, which we are encouraged to be partners with our colleges and lecturers here, is expected to be a trigger and spur enhancement of the quality of our higher education human resources, in addition to the internationalization of universities and lecturers in country.

Similarly, the scholarship scheme to the lecturers to continue their studies, both abroad and domestically, is a part of the effort to ease higher education while enhancing the quality of Indonesian human resources. We hope that qualified educators will be able to cultivate a good learning climate, to eventually produce capable graduates as well.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As in other instituations, the effort to realize this Kemenristekdikti mission takes a long time, hard work, and consistency. Clearly, we would all agree that if all state and private universities meet SNDikti standards, the universities will be able to produce graduates who are not only supporters of change; but also a driving force (driver) to facilitate community change. Moreover, if possible, higher education needs to play its role as an enabler for social change and innovation, as guided and prosecuted in this disruptive era.

To realize these ideals, let us join hands for the glory of the country in the spirit of National Education Day. I congratulate and thank you to all educators, academics, students, activists, and lovers of education in this Motherland. May Allah SWT, the Most Merciful and Loving God, bless our efforts.

Wassalamu'alaikum wr. wb

Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education

Mohamad Nasir