Year: 2014

Menilai sebuah prestasi – Manusiakan universitas

Kadang-kadang kita sangat takjub bagaimana seseorang atau organisasi dapat berprestasi tinggi. Untuk menilai prestasi, digunakanlah instrumen penilaian yang terukur yang disebut sebagai Key Performance Indicator (KPI). KPI menjadi bahan perbincangan hangat di universitas di Malaysia dan juga Indonesia karena digunakan untuk kenaikan pangkat dosen atau pensyarah. Hal ini bagus karena dapat mendorong prestasi. Semua staf dinilai dengan KPI, yang terukur dan diterjemahkan kepada angka-angka. Nah, angka-angka inilah yang dikejar oleh dosen atau pensyarah. Bagaimana cara mengejarnya adalah urusan lain. Boleh dengan cara yang bijak dan manusiawi atau dengan cara sebaliknya. Cara-cara inilah yang kadangkala tidak nampak karena semuanya sudah dibutakan dengan tujuan angka-angka tersebut. Banyak indikator yang diperlukan untuk kenaikan pangkat, seperti publikasi di jurnal ilmiah, jumlah dana riset dan lain sebagainya.

Untuk mengejar angka-angka tersebut, dosen dan pensyarah mempunyai banyak strategi. Strategi yang paling manjur adalah dengan memperbudak mahasiswa. Hal ini sama sekali tidak boleh dilakukan oleh seorang dosen atau pensyarah, karena tujuan seseorang menjadi dosen atau pensyarah adalah untuk mendidik mahasiswanya. Saya melihat sendiri kolega yang “mempergunakan” mahasiswanya untuk mengejar KPI dengan cara yang saya nilai tidak patut. Tersenyumpun mahasiswa tersebut tidak bisa karena dilingkungi oleh suasana stress yang berlebihan karena ditekan untuk mengejar KPI dosen atau pensyarahnya. Dosen atau pensyarah tersebut dapat berkilah jika ditanya kenapa mereka melakukan hal tersebut. Jawabannya adalah, ini adalah bahagian dari proses pendidikan katanya. Tentu hasilnya dapat kita bayangkan. Produktivitas dalam menghasilkan data-data penelitian dan akhirnya publikasi meningkat. Nah, apakah ini dapat kita lihat sebagai sebuah prestasi? Kita perlu bijak melihat hal ini, terutama untuk saya dan juga rekan-rekan yang bekerja di universitas. Jangan lupa, tujuan utama sebuah universitas didirikan adalah untuk mendidik generasi penerus. Pikirkan dan renungkanlah.

“Memanusiakan manusia”, kata Profesor Fuad Hassan, mantan menteri pendidikan dan kebudayaan Republik Indonesia. Atau “Humanizing the University”, kata Profesor Graham Spainier, mantan presiden University of Penn State.

http://news.psu.edu/story/141425/2000/01/01/research/humanizing-university

Humanizing the University
Graham Spanier
January 01, 2000

Early in my presidency at Penn State one of our deans called me, concerned that one of the college's best young faculty members, a rising star, was about to leave for another institution. "Please call and convince this person to stay," the dean asked. I invited the faculty member to meet with me. I can be persuasive, and I certainly tried to be.

I learned that this recently tenured associate professor had an offer from a top-ten department, whereas our department at Penn State was currently ranked in the second ten. The salary was going to be the same, so that wasn't an issue. We had given a huge amount of support during the faculty member's tenure here, favorable teaching assignments, release time to get a research program going. No complaints. I then proceeded to hear an analysis of the comings and goings of people in the field, an analysis of likely future ranking shifts due to retirements and hires, and other variables that reflected an undebatable, yet cold-blooded logic about academic hierarchies. The analysis gave me the chills. By the end of our conversation, I was almost glad this person was leaving. Why? Because I found, in listening, no attachment to Penn State after eight years, no feeling of gratitude for all that departmental colleagues had done, no expression of emotional attachments to Penn State students, in short no compelling reason to stay.

Nationwide, there is a conversation occurring about how to get faculty to be more actively involved with their universities. Many faculty members are really independent operators who are only marginally tied into the life of the university. Their allegiance is not to the institution for which they work, but to their discipline nationally and internationally, an orientation that tends to be reinforced by the academic reward structure. Hiring, promotion, and tenure decisions are based in the department, or college, and the department's strongest frame of reference is its academic discipline viewed globally. Our nation's research universities have spawned two faculties: those who do and those who don't—those who believe it is their responsibility to engage fully with each cohort of students and those who do not see this as their primary responsibility.

Must this be viewed as an "either/or" struggle? I believe an allegiance to one's university, pride in our shared mission and stature, commitment to our students, and loyalty to our colleagues can be entirely compatible with standards of academic excellence, prominence as a scholar, and national recognition as a department. I wish to challenge our faculty in particular to get more involved in the lives of our students.

I prefer not to fault individuals, since this situation exists at all leading universities. It is a situation of our own collective making. And despite all protestations to the contrary, we continue to orient the reward structure so that interaction outside the classroom with undergraduates counts for very little. To be honest, every experienced department head can point to casualties—cases of junior faculty members ultimately denied tenure because they became so immersed with student advising and programming that they neglected their scholarship. So let's admit up front that we indeed expect an exceptional level of scholarship from our faculty. Balance is the key. Balance.

Graham Spanier, Ph.D., is the president of Penn State. He holds four academic appointments—as professor of human development and family studies, sociology, demography, and family and community medicine. This essay is an excerpt from his 1999 State of the University Address.

Guest lecture at Universitas Riau

For two days, from 21 to 22 February 2014, I gave a guest lecture at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Universitas Riau. Participants’ guest lecture is comprised of faculty, undergraduate and graduate students. I also met fellows’ alumni of UTM in Pekanbaru; Dr. Idral Amri, Dr. Dahliyusmanto, Dr. Herianto, Dr. Anwar Khatib, and Nesdi Evrilyan Rozanda. We discussed the possibility of UTM alumni gathering in Pekanbaru.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hadinur/sets/72157641378550173/

Ibnu Sina Institute restructuring workshop

During 3 days, from 12 to 14 February 2014, I was involved in the Ibnu Sina Institute restructuring workshop at Mahkota Hotel, Malacca. In this workshop, Ibnu Sina Institute promotes mechanisms that encourage engagement across disciplines through sharpening the focus on research and scholarship. Ibnu Sina Institute now focuses on the areas of waste remediation. The idea of waste remediation for Ibnu Sina Institute’s research focus emerged when I, Prof. Mustaffa Shamsuddin and Prof. Mohd Marsin Sanagi visited Osaka University last month. One of the research projects that will be proposed soon is the utilization of waste electronic.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hadinur/sets/72157640946637653/

Meeting at the Ministry of Education of Malaysia

I attended a meeting between a delegation from the Ministry of Religious Affairs Indonesia led by Director General of the Islamic Education, Professor Nur Syam and the Ministry of Education of Malaysia in Putrajaya. The meeting was chaired by Dato’ Seri Ir. Dr. Zaini Ujang, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Education of Malaysia. In the near future, the MoU will be signed between the two ministries.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/hadinur/sets/72157640656476204/

I really like to laugh

This very short article is about how to achieve short-term excitement with humour.

This very short article is about how to achieve short-term excitement with humor.

Humour is necessary and important. It is a gift from God that should be utilized by humans. To my knowledge, the animals do not have a sense of humor. In this highly competitive world, humor can be a mechanism to relieve stress.

Tonight, I read and heard a lot of bad news; Low salaries of lecturers in Indonesia, floods in Jakarta and politics in Malaysia and Indonesia. It cannot be denied, news like this coloring our feelings. What emerges is empathy and anger. The mass media can indeed play the feelings and way of thinking. This is the power of the media.

With humor, we can laugh at ourselves. Laugh at our stupidity and mistake. With humor, we can reduce the psychology effect caused by the problems encountered in our daily life. I like to laugh. This is the best mechanism to achieve short-term excitement. In my opinion, from a broader perspective, humor is associated with wisdom, the quality of being wise.

“Always laugh when you can: it is a cheap medicine.” Lord Byron.

Visiting Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin

For three days from 26 to 29 January 2014, I , Prof. Dr. Mustaffa Shamsuddin and Dr. Sheela Chandren visited the Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) in Berlin, Germany. HZB is a well-known research center in the field of materials and energy in Germany. We met HZB’s scientists who work in the field of solar cell research. I want to thank Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ennaoui, who has received and arranged meetings and discussions with researchers at HZB. I met Prof. Ennaoui last year at Osaka University. We were both invited speakers at the 11th Symposium of Research Center for Solar Energy Chemistry, Osaka University, which was held at the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University, on 20 February 2013. We both agreed to make the MoU between Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and HZB. The MoU was signed in June 2013.

Research facilities at HZB are incredibly sophisticated and, I think, one of the most advanced in the world. The total research budget of HZB is 110 million Euros per year. One of the research goals of HZB is to produce photovoltaics that can be commercialized. HZB has several divisions that are very supportive of each other to achieve a goal. The research activities start with fundamental research, followed by applied research, and the last is the transfer of technology.

We were enjoying very much for presentations and discussions with HZB’s scientists, dinners in restaurants, and many other things. It is a very inspirational visit to Germany. I hope that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) and HZB can make a strategic future collaboration.

Click the following image to see more photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hadinur/sets/72157640364986786

Kalah bersaing

Hari ini adalah hari terakhir berada di Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB), pusat peneltian yang ternama dalam bidang material dan energi di Jerman. Pada kunjungan dua hari di HZB, saya bertemu dengan banyak saintis yang bekerja dalam bidang penelitian sel surya. Saya berterima kasih kepada Prof. Dr. Ahmed Ennaoui yang telah menerima dan mengatur pertemuan dan diskusi dengan peneliti-peneliti di HZB. Penelitian dan juga alat-alat yang digunakan sungguh sangat canggih dan merupakan salah satu yang tercanggih didunia. Target para ilmuwan di HZB adalah menghasilkan sel surya yang dapat dikomersialkan. Foto yang ditampilkan dalam tulisan ini adalah produk hasil riset HZB. Namun Sulfurcell yang kemudian berganti nama menjadi Soltecture, perusahaan yang menghasilkan sel surya ini bangkrut karena kalah bersaing dengan produk dari Cina.

Riset yang fokus dan pendekatan yang strategik adalah perkara yang dilakukan oleh HZB. Di pusat penelitian ini, HZB mempunyai beberapa departemen yang sangat mendukung satu sama lain untuk mencapai satu tujuan; menghasilkan sel surya yang dapat dipasarkan. Mereka memulai dari riset dasar, dilanjutkan dengan aplikasi dan terakhir adalah transfer teknologi. Dana peneltian HZB pertahun adalah 110 juta euro, atau setara dengan 500 juta ringgit Malaysia atau 1.8 triliun rupiah. HZB memiliki 400 orang saintis. Dana riset yang besar ini adalah dorongan yang kuat dari pemerintah Jerman untuk menggantikan energi nuklir. Tahun 2020, Jerman menutup fasilitas nuklir mereka untuk menghasilkan energi listrik. “A Renewable Energy Sources Act” telah disediakan untuk mendukung energi terbarukan. Walaubagaimanapun, seperti yang diceritakan pada paragraf pertama tulisan ini, ternyata produk mereka tetap kalau bersaing dengan produk dari Cina. Ekonomi-politik adalah hal yang perlu diperhatikan dalam hal ini.

Visiting Osaka University

I, Prof. Mohd Marsin Sanagi and Prof. Mustaffa Shamsuddin visited the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University in the Toyonaka campus. The purpose of this visit is to discuss sending UTM students for research attachment under the UTM Nobel Endeavour Program to the Graduate School of Engineering Science, Osaka University. We received a warm welcome from Osaka University’s professors, especially Prof. Michio Matsumura, Prof. Genta Kawahara, Prof. Jun Miyake, Prof. Tadashi Suzuki, Prof. Norikazu Nishiyama, Prof. Takashi Suzuki, Prof. Tomoo Mizugaki, Prof. Yutaka Kano, Prof. Shigeru Ikeda, Prof. Takeshi Naota, Prof. Masahiro Kitagawa, Prof. Tadashi Ithoh, Prof. Masaaki Ashida and Prof. Tadao Nagatsuma.

Click the following image to see more photos.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hadinur/sets/72157640130503765/