The esteemed Director of Human Resources at UGM, Dr. Suadi, is very soon poised to deliver his inaugural speech as a professor. As a younger member of the professorial fraternity, he exudes gratitude for ascending to the pinnacle of academic achievement at UGM.
In his perspective, the title of professor is a tangible aspiration for all lecturers, forming an integral part of the natural progression along the academic trajectory.
“The lecturer’s career path leads there. It starts as a teaching assistant, assistant lecturer, lecturer, senior lecturer, and professor. That’s the path, and it will undoubtedly lead to that achievement. So, the pride is seen in the subsequent works,” he conveyed at UGM on Friday (Dec. 15).
Regrettably, many lecturers are reluctant to embark on the journey towards promotions, particularly the intricate process of acquiring the esteemed title of professor. This hesitancy is often rooted in the perceived complexity and protracted administrative procedures accompanying the elevation.
Numerous prerequisites must be met, extending beyond academic accomplishments to encompass various administrative intricacies. For instance, publications must not only align with the stringent criteria of prestigious journals but must also furnish evidence of substantial communication preceding the publication–a requirement deemed non-negotiable.
“The correspondence proof should not be brief; it must be detailed, with comments from the reviewer. So, it involves a communication process and must be well-documented. Sometimes, some lecturers face difficulties because they haven’t dealt with promotions for a long time, making them reluctant,” said Dr. Suadi.
Drawing on his rich experience in the structural facets of faculties and universities, Dr. Suadi has a nuanced understanding of educators’ challenges in their professional odysseys.
Having served as the Vice Dean for Finance, Human Resources, and Assets at the UGM Faculty of Agriculture and later ascending to Director of Human Resources at UGM, Dr. Suadi encountered the same predicament concerning the shortage of professors at both faculty and university levels. Addressing this shortage assumed priority.
In recounting the narrative, Dr. Suadi expressed concern over the absence of new professors at the Faculty of Agriculture, spanning almost 15 years.
Armed with this awareness, he embarked on a meticulous mapping of pertinent issues. He collaborated with IT experts to craft a template that could facilitate faculty members in entering and perusing the credit scores they had garnered.
“The template was created with the help of administrative staff in the faculty. Simultaneously with these efforts, several lecturers submitted their applications for professor, and some utilized the template we created. It was very satisfying; the nine proposals received the professor’s appointment letter. Some were appointed in 2022, and others in 2023,” narrated the director.
When he assumed the Director of Human Resources role, he was confronted with a parallel predicament–contributing to the expeditious appointment of professors at UGM. The number of professors’ crises has been a recurring theme since the tenure of Rector Dwikorita Karnawati.
During the leadership of Rector Ova Emilia, the urgency to address the crisis was underscored. Dr. Suadi was entrusted with catalyzing the appointment of 50 new professors in 2023, employing a modus operandi as his stint at the Faculty of Agriculture.
“Together with the UGM Directorate of Information Technology, we mapped the lecturer’s credit score achievements using Simaster data. There’s a desire to expedite promotions and appointments. We are targeted to add a minimum of 50, and I see that this goal is achievable,” he explained.
Collaboratively, the Directorates of Human Resources and Information Technology devised a dashboard to streamline lecturers’ mapping of credit score achievements. This dashboard has proven invaluable in visualizing the credit scores amassed by each lecturer.
Dr. Suadi highlighted that, for instance, the dashboard could unveil that a lecturer had surpassed the 900 credit score threshold but had yet to initiate the process for a professor application, necessitating a credit score of merely 850.
After an investigation, he elucidated that it was discovered that the lecturer still fell short of specific requirements, primarily in the domain of academic publications. In tandem with refining the data in Simaster, the research program was fortified, thereby fostering publications.
“We streamlined the lecturer’s promotion management process to make it simpler, following the existing regulations, and the dashboard helps map each proposal’s progress. This certainly makes it easier for everyone, although the dashboard is not perfect,” he added.
“Another important thing is Regulation No. 1 of 2023 from the Ministry of Administrative and Bureaucratic Reform regarding Functional Positions, which forces lecturers to report all works or achievements related to their primary duties. This regulation does pose many ‘problems,’ but I think it also supports accelerating professors at UGM.”
To eschew the epithet of ‘Jarkoni,’ signifying the ability to speak but not execute, Dr. Suadi commenced a process of introspection into his professional trajectory. The responsibilities and engagements in other spheres had inadvertently caused him to sideline the management of his academic position.
“How can I tell others to advance their careers when I don’t advance mine? Later, people will call me Jarkoni. That’s why, in 2020, I also processed my position as a senior lecturer because I had become a vice dean. After a long time of not pursuing promotions and appointments, I decided to do it,” he asserted.
Adhering to the stipulated rules, Dr. Suadi acknowledged that to apply for promotion to the rank of professor, he had to traverse the position of senior lecturer for at least two years. Publications assumed paramount importance in meeting this prerequisite. Even in his administrative role, Dr. Suadi found time to engage in research, collaborating with colleagues and students alike.
In concert with colleagues in the Department of Fisheries at the Faculty of Agriculture and other universities, a collaborative research project secured funding from the ministry, earmarked as a maritime consortium led by the UGM team.
The team conducted comprehensive research in South Sulawesi on an archipelago in the Spermonde Islands. Armed with robust data, he and his colleagues authored a paper.
“The process took one year, which is sometimes a problem for lecturers. Sometimes, they have enough credit scores, but they must wait because the paper takes a long time to be published,” he said.
“Waiting for more than a year, including the revision process and improvements, back to the journal. The paper was published last December, and that is one of the papers I used to fulfill the requirements for the professor’s application.”
The intricacies of fishery resource management, particularly optimizing them for the well-being of coastal communities, might very well emerge as the focal point of his inaugural speech, slated for the end of December 2023. Dr. Suadi has long been dedicated to resource management, explicitly emphasizing the socio-economic aspect.
Taking a reflective pause, Dr. Suadi expressed gratitude for the trajectory that unfolded after he graduated from the Department of Fisheries. Presented with an offer to apply as a lecturer at his alma mater, he accepted the challenge, harboring aspirations to pursue further studies overseas.
Fortuitously, he seized the opportunity to pursue his master’s and doctoral studies in Japan. He earned his master’s degree at Ibaraki University. He pursued his doctoral program at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, specializing in agricultural economics and symbiotic society.
“I come from a family of teachers. When I graduated, one of the lecturers, Mr. Heri Saksono, asked me to become a lecturer. He suggested that I apply for a lecturer position. Fortunately, when I graduated, there was a lecturer recruitment. So, I applied, took the exam, and got accepted,” he recounted.
Author: Agung Nugroho