Head of the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Laksana Tri Handoko, has underlined the problems that are stagnating the growth of research in Indonesia.
“Even when Mr. Habibie was alive, we could tell that there was something wrong with our research management, which makes us unable to go anywhere, it does not grow,” he noted.
At an online event themed “Fundamental Solution to Bolster Research and Innovation” here on Tuesday evening, he compared the current situation to that in the 1970s, when Malaysia and Thailand often learned about research from Indonesia.
Now, however, Indonesia is the one that has to learn from the two countries, he said.
Many Indonesian lecturers from major universities, such as the University of Indonesia (UI) and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), are pursuing their masters and doctoral degrees in Malaysia, he noted. Many ministers also completed their college education there, he said.
“So, we realize that there is something wrong,” he remarked.
According to BRIN, the problem with research in Indonesia is that it is dominated by the government.
“Around 80 percent of our research comes from the government while 20 percent is non-government. This is despite the fact that research should not be dominated by the government,” Handoko said.
The research that the government carries out is also small-scale and spread across various ministries or institutions, he added.
The second problem is that the number of private research institutions and human resources is still small, he noted.
“Research institutions should be plenty. Researchers should be plenty. The number of government research institutions should be small, only one or two,” he said.
According to Handoko, 80 percent of research should be conducted by non-governmental institutions in accordance with the standard laid down by UNESCO.
To this end, BRIN urged the government to reduce the number of research institutions run by it and to encourage more private researchers and research institutions.
Source: Antara News