Universities in Indonesia are Increasingly Recognized Globally

Koran Sindo, page 1

The world university rating agency, Webometrics, released a line-up of the best campuses based on website activity. Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta is back to maintain the first position since it was listed in 2008.
The second position is occupied by the University of Indonesia (UI), followed by Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB). Ministry of Research Technology and Higher Education (Kemenristek Dikti) appreciates these achievements. These achievements are a sign that the quality of Indonesian universities is increasingly recognized worldwide.

Menristek Dikti Muhammad Nasir said university achievements in Webometric increasingly prompt the world to recognize the greatness of higher education in Indonesia. He hoped that all universities could compete to improve the quality of their websites.

Rankings are arranged based on the campus page with reference to four criteria, namely the presence, impact, openness and excellence. Nasir explained Webometrics measures the progress of a university through the quality of the university website.

Nasir stressed, if Webometrics sees the campus progress indicator through the website, then the indicators of higher education quality could be viewed from Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) and Times Higher Education (THE) rankings.  According to him, there are already three campuses entering the world’s top 500 of the QS version, namely the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, and the University of Gadjah Mada.

With reference to this data, Nasir said, the government should strive hard to increase the number of universities entering the top 500 of the world.  This global recognition is important, he said, so that more foreign universities are willing to cooperate with Indonesia. Both for joint researches, exchange of lecturers and students.