Ministry urges campus research that benefits society

Surabaya (ANTARA) - The Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Kemdiktisaintek) is urging universities to produce research that delivers real solutions to societal problems rather than focusing solely on publications and academic reputation.

“The point is the effort for scientific solutions to be realized through campuses and to have impact, to have benefits for the wider society, for development, and for Indonesia in general,” Director General of Science and Technology Ahmad Najib Burhani said in Surabaya on Thursday.

Burhani spoke during a forum titled Reviewer’s Talk: Understanding the Universe, Grounding Science and Technology at the University of 17 Agustus 1945 (Untag) Surabaya.

He said the forum brought together the ministry, reviewers, and universities to discuss seven science and technology development programs.

The initiatives include strengthening journal publications, fostering collaboration with industry and regional governments, disseminating research findings, and establishing science and technology centers on campuses.

Burhani noted that a primary goal for the ministry is ensuring research results are applied directly in communities rather than remaining confined to laboratories.

“So moving the laboratory, among other things, from a small room on campus to the field within society,” Burhani said.

Through the forum, proposal submitters also discussed strategies directly with reviewers to tailor their research to each program's criteria while maximizing public benefit.

Burhani emphasized that the ministry’s funding and development policies apply equally to state universities (PTN) and private universities (PTS).

Private universities submit a large share of proposals because they outnumber state institutions, and the ministry is actively engaging promising private campuses to expand their research capacity, he noted.

“So the ministry’s policy actually does not differentiate between PTN and PTS, and every program applies to all of them,” Burhani said.

Meanwhile, Director of Dissemination and Utilization of Science and Technology Yudi Darma said the outreach aims to align evaluation standards between program managers and reviewers.

Universities must go further by translating academic work into practical solutions that address community needs, Darma added.

“We want to invite campuses to go even further. After academic works emerge, to translate them into society’s needs,” Darma said.

He noted that the seven programs, including Bestari Saintek, Insaintek, and Titik Kumpul, have distinct targets and outputs, requiring universities to understand each scheme to select the right research focus, implementation location, and stakeholders.

“We want to open new perspectives on how research and science and technology processes are carried out on campuses to solve issues and problems in society,” Darma said.

Untag Surabaya Vice Rector I Amanda Pasca Rini welcomed the ministry's decision to host the outreach event at her university.

She said Untag Surabaya wants to ensure that faculty research goes beyond academic papers to drive tangible change in society.

“We want lecturers’ research to be not only beautiful on paper, but to have an impact on society and be realized in practice,” she said.

Rini added that research needs to consider the presence of partners and the potential of local wisdom so that its results are directly connected to society’s needs.

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Translator: Willi Irawan, Fauzul Azhim Bin Fakhrurazi
Editor: Arie Novarina
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