RESEARCH UNIVERSITY vs TEACHING UNIVERSITY (by: Muchlas Samani)

I have no idea since when both terms started to be used and when they became popular in Indonesia. As far as I remember, they happened to be the topic of discussion when there is a policy to encourage universities in Indonesia to become world-class universities (WCU), as though become so, they must become research universities (RU). This meaning can be fully understood because WCU is always associated with ranking classification done by Times Higher Education and sometimes by Shanghai Jia Tong. Well, the top-ranked universities in both categories are classified as RU.

What is the definition of RU? It is usually defined publicly as a university whose primary mission is to conduct research (a research university is one that is committed to research as a central part of its mission). Perhaps it will be clearer if contrasted with a teaching university (TU) which is usually defined as the university whose primary focus is to educate students to be successful individuals after graduation (a teaching university is focused on the students and strives to make their success a top priority). Therefore, RU and TU have different missions, hence the program focuses are also different.

Because RU and TU cannot be compared, thus the ranking should be made separate. Let’s say there happens to be an order of RU from very good to bad, the same situation can be applied to the TU order. Certainly, the indicator used for ranking RU is asymmetrical to the one for TU. As far as I’m concerned, the university ranking for TU has yet to exist. My supposition lies in the possibility of lessening the pace of universities in the competition to become RU, even though they are more suitable for being TU.

Which one is better between RU and TU? In my opinion, they cannot be compared because they have different missions and programs, thus the main activities are also different. It is then connected to the resources and infrastructures required which of course are also unsimilar. Perhaps we can make an analogy like a greengrocery and a fruit store. Because the types of commodities are not the same, the human resources and infrastructures needed are surely different. The greengrocery indeed also provides several types of fruits, but the portion is very small. Likewise, the fruit store provides vegetable stock as well but only a small portion. There might be a large store that can function as a fruit store and greengrocery, so that it has a big and complete stock of fruits and vegetables, but in this case, they surely require massive human resources and infrastructure. There is also a small store that sells both vegetables and fruits, but that kind of shop is usually an incomplete fruit store or greengrocery.

Similar to the analogy above, we can say that RU owns students and conducts the educational process, but that is not their main concern, or it can be said that supporting research is their primary focus. Those universities generally prioritize the master’s and doctoral programs because they can be directly associated with the research conducted by their lecturers. The graduates are also expected to be reliable researchers, thus learning process is more like an ‘apprenticeship’ with those researchers whose roles are as the lecturers in those RUs. Conversely, research activities are also carried out by TU but that is not the primary focus and the research conducted is well-addressed to support the educational process. From where do they develop the science to upgrade/update the competence of their lecturers? It is obtained from RU with a similar scientific field. Thus, the main duty of the lecturers at TU is not to invent or develop sciences but to prepare human resources to enter the workforce. There probably exists a ‘small’ university that can play the role of RU and TU, but it also requires massive and qualified human resources and infrastructure for both. Perhaps there is also a ‘small’ college that strives to become both, but it is likely impossible to be a good RU or TU.

The question may arise, what is the example of TU? There are many of them. The Indonesian Military Academy and Police Academy are more suitable to be defined so as the focus is to produce good officers. All official tertiary institutions or ministries outside the Ministry of Education and Culture, in my opinion, are included in TU, because the focus is on producing graduates who meet the requirements of the ministry. So where does the research take place? In the Research and Development agency owned by the ministry.

Are the universities/institutions under the Ministry of Education and Culture categorized as RU? I personally do not think that they should be categorized as RU or TU. They can be an RU and TU but with the awareness that it requires large amounts of human resources and infrastructures. One thing they must avoid is the unclear mission which might impact the programs to be unclear as well. They could be neither RU nor TU or if they desire to be RU as well as TU yet the human resources and infrastructures are not adequate so it is impossible to achieve.

In Indonesia’s context, TU is seemingly more needed than RU. Indonesia needs a large number of human resources in the operational field of various industries, such as manufacturing, agriculture, fishery, trading, tourism, and other services. It does not mean that we do not need research findings to fast-forward industrial development but it is not as many as the human resources in the operational field.

Because both RU and TU are equally needed and unable to be compared, hence they must be awarded equally. It means that if a university achieved to be a great TU, the award must be granted similarly to the one obtained by RU. Henceforth, not all universities can become either TU or RU. How the composition of both requires more in-depth study. It is said that Malaysia initially only appointed four universities which later became six to become RU. In my opinion, Indonesia also needs to formulate how many universities are assigned to become RU and in which fields of study, in accordance with the needs of the country. Meanwhile, it is better for others to become TU to produce the human resources needed for the development of this country.

How about Education Personnel Education Institute (LPTK)? In my opinion, LPTKs are "semi-official" tertiary institutions, because they are under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Culture whose graduates become teachers that work in schools which is probably under the guidance of the Ministry of Education and Culture. The Ministry of Education and Culture certainly understands the qualifications and competencies of teachers needed, how many and what types. In this way, it is possible to design how many LPTKs are needed and what the study programs are, even where the exact location is in accordance with Indonesia's geography. Of course, several LPTKs are needed which are encouraged to become RUs to conduct research on various matters related to education. Hopefully.