‘Independent Campus’ Jolts National Education

The “freedom to learn” principle must be reinstated in its essence, which is the spirit of creativity and curiosity about learning new things, instead of adding bureaucratic layers through the higher education scheme.

Since its launch in 2020, the government’s national education breakthrough “Merdeka Belajar, Kampus Merdeka” has shaken formal education practices, especially at universities. The program has disrupted the conventional purposes of learning and learning materials and changed the direction of pedagogy.

Students and lecturers are pushed to go beyond study programs and outside the campus. The centers of learning for students who have been admitted to universities after graduating senior high school are no longer just the campuses of higher education institutions, but also ministries, government institutions and regional state agencies, as they are encouraged to take long-term internships.