The Toxic Cultures of the Academic World

The feudal and ceremonial cultures are two toxic cultures that will confine the Indonesian academic world in backwardness. If both cultures are left to continue, Indonesia shall never expect to have Nobel laureates.

Kompas has lately published several reports about the country’s academic world. The issues brought up concern the ghostwriting of scientific works for professorial candidates and the excessive administrative burden on lecturers.

Amid the uproar in academia, Peter Carey, a historian dedicated to the study of modern Indonesian history, presented an online lecture about why Indonesia has never had Nobel laureates. He mentioned a number of factors including the very low salaries of lecturers, the civil servant status of lecturers that is counterproductive to scientific development, the absence of sabbatical leave for lecturers to focus on independent research and non-campus academic activities and the absence of an adequate peer review culture.