Every year, Indonesian universities graduate approximately 1,9 million bachelor’s degree holders. However, many of them struggle to find suitable employment.
The proposal to restructure academic programs put forward by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemendiktisaintek) stems from a valid concern. The question then arises: is closing academic programs the answer, or might there be a more strategic approach?
Closure can indeed be one option. However, before reaching that point, there is a far more promising path, which is academic transformation and integration.
The relevance of an academic program cannot be measured once and for all, then set in stone. This is because it requires an ability to adapt that must be continuously nurtured. Many fields that seem to have few students today turn out to be lifesavers in the future.
Epidemiology, once considered a niche field, proved to save millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic. Geophysics has become the backbone of climate disaster mitigation. Basic mathematics, often dismissed as impractical, has actually given rise to artificial intelligence that is now transforming the world.
Literature is another compelling example. At first glance, this field seems far removed from industry needs. However, in the era of artificial intelligence, the ability to understand the nuances of language, culture, and human stories has become both rare and invaluable.
Global technology companies are actively recruiting graduates in linguistics and literature to train language models, translate cross cultural content, and design more human centered interfaces.
The creative industries, the diplomatic world, and the field of communication would not function without a foundation of literacy that can only be built through a serious humanities education.
Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The challenges of the 21st century such as food crises, climate change, digital disruption, and the energy transition are issues that cannot be addressed by a single discipline alone. What is needed is an educational ecosystem that fosters interdisciplinary collaboration.
Several countries have already taken this path. Germany, through its Excellence Strategy program, funds dozens of inter-university research clusters to strengthen scientific excellence while maintaining academic diversity.
Austria has gone a step further: the Interdisciplinary Transformation University has launched a master’s program that combines digital competencies with the social sciences, psychology, medicine, and the arts. Applicants come from dozens of countries, with a rigorous selection process.
The Times Higher Education ranking agency now even publishes a special ranking for interdisciplinary research, with hundreds of universities from dozens of countries participating.
Several Indonesian universities are included in this list, including IPB University, which ranks 42nd globally in this ranking. This signals that the interdisciplinary approach is not a fleeting trend but a direction already agreed upon by the global academic community.
Integration of Interests and Relevance
The policy of eliminating academic programs at universities does indeed need to be re-evaluated. One risk of an approach that overly emphasizes this step is the loss of students’ rights to develop according to their interests and talents. In the long term, an education system that ignores this dimension will produce graduates lacking in creativity.
Conversely, policymakers need to adopt an approach that places greater emphasis on integration in the transformation of academic programs.
Smart agriculture is a concrete example. By combining agriculture, artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and data analytics, this approach addresses Asia’s food security challenges amid land constraints and a changing climate. Sensors, drones, and data analysis are now used to determine planting times, monitor soil conditions, and predict harvests with precision.
Bioinformatics is another example. By integrating biology, computing, and big data, this field addresses both health and food security challenges simultaneously. Solutions can only emerge from the collaboration of experts in biology, computer science, engineering, and the social sciences.
The results are clearly evident in genomic analysis, drug development, and early disease detection. Leading universities worldwide are launching these programs as industry demand continues to grow, start from the pharmaceutical sector and research institutions to government agencies.
Interestingly, such programs are actually in high demand among students. This proves that relevance and student interest need not be at odds.
Choosing a wiser path
Enhancing relevance doesn’t always require major restructuring. Curriculum updates that respond to technological changes, strengthening future oriented skills, starting with data literacy, systems thinking, and interdisciplinary collaboration, and genuine partnerships with industry are equally powerful tools.
Higher education institutions that have successfully transformed generally do not choose between pure academia and industry orientation. They build a bridge between the two by maintaining a strong academic foundation while remaining open to the evolving needs of the workforce.
The government’s drive for reform is welcome. However, for this policy to truly strengthen the higher education ecosystem, the prerequisites are clear: regular evaluations, comprehensive data, and open dialogue among the ministry, universities, industry, and other stakeholders.
Ultimately, a great university is not one with the fewest academic programs, but one that is most agile in integrating knowledge, most responsive to the changing times, and most daring in innovating to educate the next generation.
A transformation grounded in in-depth analysis, implemented gradually, and involving all parties, that is the wiser path for the future of higher education in Indonesia.
Alim Setiawan Slamet, Rector of IPB University
This article was published in Kompas on May 4, 2026
