"In August, the Dayak chief began to think it was going to be a long long dry season. So he instructed his tribe to collect water and sand to hold a ritual according to their tradition. To double-check his prediction, the chief called the National Weather Service and asked a meteorologist if the summer would be very heavy. The man on the line responded, 'According to our indicators, we think it just might be.'Following the phone call, the chief told his people to find extra water and sand, just in case. He called the National Weather Service again, and they confirmed that a dry season was headed their way.The chief ordered the villagers to get ready for the ritual immediately. He then called the National Weather Service again and asked, 'Are you certain this summer is going to be very hard?''Oh, we sure are,' the man replied. 'The Dayaks are preparing for their ritual, collecting a lot of water and sand, like crazy!'""Education at the university serves more than just 'tertiary needs.' While tertiary education does play a crucial role in providing specialized knowledge and skills, it also contributes to personal growth, critical thinking, and societal development. Universities foster research, innovation, and cultural exchange, making them essential for a well-rounded education," Cananga went on while opening a book by Salim Haji Said, 'Ini Bukan Kudeta' [This Ain't a Coup].Prof. Dr. H. Salim Haji Said, M.A. (10 November 1943 – 18 May 2024) was an Indonesian press and film figure, academic, scholar, and former Ambassador. The ideas Said expressed were quite interesting. In his work 'Ini Bukan Kudeta', he wrote, 'After the end of the New Order regime, in May 1998, Indonesia began a process of democratization. In connection with defense and security issues, the main characteristic of the democratization process is demilitarization. This means returning defense and security matters and decisions to the people represented/managed by elected politicians (the President and his assistants and members of the DPR). [...] Defense and security matters ultimately become the absolute domain of officers. After the police were integrated into ABRI (Armed Forces of the Republic of Indonesia), security, order, and law enforcement issues were finally managed militarily. Then, sometimes there is no difference between military duties and police duties.One of the consequences of military domination is visible when the country/government perceives a threat. Any manifestation, let alone action, that is deemed inconsistent with the policy of the authorities is immediately considered and treated as a threat. And then it was faced militarily. We no longer have time to distinguish between threats and challenges. Everything is simply simplified and put in one box and labeled as a threat. As a result, the dynamics of our plurality as a plural nation which is still in the process of overcoming pluralism, cannot be handled properly. Later on—after the authoritarian New Order government ended—various vertical and horizontal conflicts erupted (Central Sulawesi, Ambon, Central Kalimantan, Aceh, and formerly East Timor).'Indonesia has lost another intellectual, military observer, and writer. 'Goodbye Mr. Salim Said, our condolences for your passing!'"The World Bank refers to Tertiary education as all formal post-secondary education, including public and private universities, colleges, technical training institutes, and vocational schools. Tertiary education is instrumental in fostering growth, reducing poverty, and boosting shared prosperity. A highly skilled workforce, with lifelong access to a solid post-secondary education, is a prerequisite for innovation and growth: well-educated people are more employable and productive, earn higher wages, and cope with economic shocks better.Tertiary education benefits not just the individual, but society as a whole. Graduates of tertiary education are more environmentally conscious, have healthier habits, and have a higher level of civic participation. Also, increased tax revenues from higher earnings, healthier children, and reduced family size all build stronger nations. In short, tertiary education institutions prepare individuals not only by providing them with adequate and relevant job skills but also by preparing them to be active members of their communities and societies.The economic returns for tertiary education graduates, according to World Bank, are the highest in the entire educational system – an estimated 17% increase in earnings as compared with 10% for primary and 7% for secondary education. These high returns are even greater in Sub-Saharan Africa, at an estimated 21% increase in earnings for tertiary education graduates.Governments are increasingly recognizing that the entire educational system – from early childhood through tertiary education – must reflect and be responsive to rapidly evolving social and economic demands and needs within an expanding globalized knowledge economy, which increasingly demands a better-trained, more skilled, and adaptable workforce.As the world seeks to build back better into a new era of green and equitable economic growth, tertiary education systems are at the heart of the big transformations required throughout economies and societies. Tertiary education is vital for the development of human capital and innovation. Strategic and effective investments in tertiary education can serve every country–from the poorest to the richest–by developing its talent and leadership pool, generating, and applying knowledge to local and global challenges, and participating in the global knowledge economy. Effective tertiary education systems ensure that countries have well-trained doctors, nurses, teachers, managers, engineers, and technicians who are the main actors of effective education and health service delivery and public and private sector development.The imperative for investing in tertiary education derives from two major questions: What are the benefits of investing, and what are the consequences of not investing? The benefits include higher employment levels (that is, lower levels of unemployment), higher wages, greater social stability, increased civic engagement, and better health outcomes. Even more significant and, perhaps, revealing, is examining what happens when countries underinvest in their tertiary education systems. The consequences of underinvestment include brain drain and talent loss, limited access to applied research capacity for local problem solving, limitations to economic growth due to low levels of skills in the workforce, low-quality teaching and learning at every level of education, and, perhaps most glaringly, expanded wealth inequality within and among nations, with those investing proportionately more experiencing resultant growth rates far outpacing those with lower levels of investment and strategic development.The innovative application of knowledge has become a fundamental driver of social progress and economic development. Advanced knowledge and modern technologies are also influencing the pace of competition and transforming the nature of labor market needs through substantial shifts in the configuration and content of jobs.Tertiary education, from Jamil Salmi's perspective, is indispensable for the effective and efficient creation, dissemination, and application of knowledge and for building institutional, professional, and technological capacity.The tertiary education ecosystem is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace, influenced by elements of uncertainty, complexity, and disruption, such as changing demographics, global competition, political volatility, diminished public funding, greater private involvement, growing accountability demands, alternative delivery modes, and game-changing technologies.Knowledge is indispensable not only for economic growth but also for social development purposes. Countries without a minimum institutional, scientific, and technological capacity to apply research results are likely to lag in realizing key social and human benefits such as increased life expectancy, lower infant mortality, and improved health, nutrition, and sanitation. Such countries will be increasingly vulnerable to emerging environmental threats.Knowledge and know-how play an equally essential role as the principal engine of social innovation, defined as the efforts of firms, universities, government agencies, and NGOs towards designing and applying new business models and offering services that help improve the lives of vulnerable communities and groups in society. Social innovation manifests itself through innovative initiatives, products, and processes aiming at finding new solutions to society’s complex challenges that are durable and equitable from the viewpoint of the most vulnerable groups.Tertiary education policy is increasingly important on national agendas. The widespread recognition that tertiary education is a major driver of economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy has made high-quality tertiary education more important. The imperative for countries is to raise higher-level employment skills, sustain a globally competitive research base, and improve knowledge dissemination to the benefit of society.
- Tertiary education contributes to social and economic development through four major missions:
- The formation of human capital (primarily through teaching);
- The building of knowledge bases (primarily through research and knowledge development);
- The dissemination and use of knowledge (primarily through interactions with knowledge users); and
- The maintenance of knowledge (inter-generational storage and transmission of knowledge).
The scope and importance of tertiary education have changed significantly. Over 40 years ago tertiary education, which was more commonly referred to as higher education, was what happened in universities. This largely covered teaching and learning requiring high-level conceptual and intellectual skills in the humanities, sciences, and social sciences, the preparation of students for entry to a limited number of professions such as medicine, engineering, and law, and disinterested advanced research and scholarship. These days, tertiary education is much more diversified and encompasses new types of institutions such as polytechnics, university colleges, or technological institutes. These have been created for many reasons: to develop a closer relationship between tertiary education and the external world, including greater responsiveness to labor market needs; to enhance social and geographical access to tertiary education; to provide high-level occupational preparation in a more applied and less theoretical way; and to accommodate the growing diversity of qualifications and expectations of school graduates.The empirical literature provides strong evidence that better-educated people are more likely to be in the labor force, and if economically active, less likely to be unemployed. There is also strong evidence that better qualifications also attract wage premia. In some countries, these are very large, reflecting a greater wage spread in the labor market and possibly higher returns to particular skills. Overall, empirical studies offer compelling evidence that undertaking tertiary education is a highly profitable investment from the individual’s point of view. The measure typically used to assess the profitability of the investment in tertiary education is the internal rate of return to tertiary education.There is significant evidence of the earnings advantage provided by tertiary education. The simplest measure of the private benefits of tertiary education is the higher salaries graduates receive compared to non-graduates—it appears that there is not only an initial earnings advantage upon entry into the labor market but also a wage premium that increases with time spent in the labor market. Controlling for some of the individual and context-specific characteristics (other than the level of education) that may affect individual wage earnings, it is possible to estimate the percentage increase in the gross hourly wage earned by an individual completing tertiary education relative to the wage earned by an otherwise similar individual holding only an upper secondary degree. The gross education premia estimated in this way reflect inter alia both the average quality of skills acquired by tertiary graduates and their scarcity relative to other types of skills. They are translated into net labor market premia by taking into account the duration of studies, the higher probability of employment after study completion, and the influence of tax and benefit systems on net earnings.Individuals undertaking tertiary education also derive non-monetary benefits from it. The literature has identified some of the private non-monetary benefits of education, but few studies focus on the extent to which tertiary education contributes to these. Private non-monetary benefits of education, as identified in the literature, include the following: Better individual and family health; Cognitive development of children; Fertility, family size, and poverty reduction (as a private benefit); Consumption efficiency; Higher return on financial assets (i.e. more educated individuals invest better their money); Reduced obsolescence of human capital via new leisure-time learning; Non-market job satisfaction (e.g. better working conditions); Greater amenities in urban life (e.g. living in areas where the crime rate is low); and pure consumption effects (e.g. enjoy student life while in tertiary institution overwork).In short, university education offers several benefits beyond just specialized knowledge:
- Personal Growth and Development: Universities provide an environment for self-discovery, critical thinking, and personal growth. Students learn to navigate diverse perspectives, collaborate, and adapt to new challenges.
- Broadened Horizons: Exposure to various subjects, cultures, and ideas expands students’ horizons. It encourages curiosity and lifelong learning.
- Networking Opportunities: Universities connect students with peers, professors, and professionals. Networking can lead to job opportunities, mentorship, and lifelong friendships.
- Research and Innovation: Universities drive research and innovation. Students can participate in groundbreaking projects and contribute to advancements in science, technology, and other fields.
- Soft Skills: Communication, teamwork, time management, and problem-solving skills are honed through coursework, extracurricular activities, and interactions with diverse individuals.
- Career Prospects: A degree often opens doors to better job prospects and higher earning potential. Employers value the skills and discipline gained during university education.
- Cultural and Social Exposure: Universities foster cultural exchange, tolerance, and understanding. Students engage with people from different backgrounds, enhancing their global awareness.
Each person’s experience varies, but these benefits collectively contribute to the value of university education!
We will continue our conversation in the next episode, biidznillah."Then Kenanga read a poem,Politisi berpuisi, Rakyat berpuisi,[Politicians read poetry, People read poetry]Presiden berpuisi, Oposisi berpuisi[The Presiden reads poetry, Oppsitions read poetry]Ketika semua berpuisi, beberapa penyair mengamini[When everyone read poetry, some poets say 'amen']Sambil memegang erat puisi-puisi itu di dadanya[While holding the poems tightly to their chest]Karena mereka menulis puisi dengan ketulusan[Because they write poetry with sincerity]Karena mereka membaca puisi dengan kejujuran *)[Because they read poetry with honesty]
Citations & References:
- Salim Haji Said, Ini Bukan Kudeta, 2018, Mizan
- The World Bank, Tertiary Education, worldbank.org, retrieved on 20.05.2024.
- Jamil Salmi, The Tertiary Education Imperative: Knowledge, Skills and Values for Development, 2017, Sense Publishers
- Paulo Santiago, Karine Tremblay, Ester Basri & Elena Arnal, Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society, Volume I, 2008, OECD
*) "Negeriku Berpuisi" written by Aloeth Pathi
