Community unpreparedness amidst change and globalization will, sooner or later, diminish cultural identity and, therefore, cause social tension that can trigger conflicts between ethnic groups, separatism, national disintegration, primordialism, and exclusivism. Similarly, the unpreparedness of the academic community in facing challenges brought by neo-liberalism has contributed to the diminishing of cultural values of higher education, including academic culture.
This was stated by Chairman of the Council of Professors of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Prof. Drs. Suryo Guritno, M.Stats., Ph.D., opening the Coordination Meeting of Councils of Professors of six State-Owned Legal Entities, Thursday (11/3), at UGM Senate Hall. He said that as part of the national power, that challenge is also the challenge for Indonesian universities. "The challenge is to prepare the character of human resources to become competitive in dealing with cultural developments that know no limits," he explained.
In this circumstance, some universities grew uncertain in determining appropriate stance and strategy that need to be taken due to the unstable and unsettled elements of cultural values, let alone when universities have to deal with competition, both from the local community or international community.
The meeting attended by delegations from University of Indonesia, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, University of North Sumatra, and Bogor Institute of Agriculture as well as UGM is considered appropriate with the main theme of "Quality of Indonesian People: Educational Effort of National Character".
According to Suryo, the theme is very relevant to the current condition. The existence, role and task of higher education in dealing with change and globalization tend to diminish cultural awareness among people and higher learning. "Therefore, it is appropriate that this fundamental problem is made the subject of thought, discussion, and review that last, in order that an ideal education of national character can be found and formulated," he hoped.
The meeting will last for two days from 11-12 March 2010 at UGM. With the support of Directorate of Higher Education, this event presented some competent speakers, such as Prof. Ritha Dalimunthe (USU), discussing "Education of National Character", Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi, M.Eng., Ph.D., UGM Rector, presenting a paper entitled "Change of Learning Paradigm: Building National Character", Prof. Achmad Anshori Mattjik (IPB) with "Process-Based Educational System: The Case of Higher Education Entrance Test Based on Report Cardâ€, Prof. Biran Affandi (UI), discussing "Assessment in Education", and Prof. Haryono (ITB), who analyzed "Academic Society Model of Educational Legal Entity in the Future".
Attending the meeting were Prof. Dr. dr. Biran Affandi, SpOG (K) (University of Indonesia), Prof. Dr. Ir. Justin A. Napitupulu, M.Sc. (University of North Sumatra), Prof. Dr. Janulis Purba (Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia), Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Endang Suhendang, M.S. (Bogor Institute of Agriculture), and Prof. Harijono (Bandung Institute of Technology).