UPI’s Directorate of International Affairs (DIA) Held 2021 WCU DIKTI Socialization

Friday (26/03/2021): The Directorate of International Affairs (DIA) held a socialization event to discuss the results of the 2021 DIKTI WCU proposal review. This activity was carried out online with the presence of the Vice Rector for Research in International Cooperation and Business (RIKU), Prof. Dr. H. Adang Suherman, MA., DIA Director Ahmad Buchori Muslim, Ph.D., Head of International Cooperation and University Ranking Haipan Salam, Ph.D, as well as directors, deans, heads of offices, head of UPT and other invited participants. In the initial presentation, the Director of DIA said that his directorate was working on UPI’s university ranking. Some of the ways that have been carried out were conducting international classes, founding Center of Sundanology and holding the annual KJP Award.

In the next presentation, the Head of the International Cooperation and University Ranking Division Haipan Salam, Ph.D. talked aboutpublished articles on Scopus which were dominated by  conference papers (536 articles) instead of  Scopus-indexed international journals (409 articles). It is hoped that UPI, through its lecturers, will increase the publication of articles in Scopus-indexed international journals compared to conference papers because it would have more impacts on the university ranking. For its publication collaboration, UPI collaborated with countries such as Malaysia, Japan, Australia, Taiwan, England, the United States, China, Germany, Nigeria, South Korea and Turkey. Malaysia is themost collaborated country  with 65 articles written in Scopus international journals.

UPI’s ranking in QS WUR by Subject Education and Training from 2019-2021 was discussed as one of the topics in the presentation. In 2019, UPI ranked the 457th; in 2020, UPI ranked the 291st (globally) in Asia’s first Top 50; and in 2021 (spring), UPI ranked at 251th out of300. In the WCU proposal submitted to DIKTI, there were several recommendations from the institutional directorate and the Inspector General of Higher Education as follows:

  1. The Rector of UPI along with the entire academic community together bear the responsibility of working harder to achieve the WUR 1000 in 2024.
  2. Improving the faculty-student ratio (accelerated program; adding the number of lecturers).
  3. Increasing publications in Scopus-indexed international journals (not international conferences).
  4. Optimizing budget use.

Meanwhile, the specific recommendations given by the Directorate of Institutions and the Inspectorate General for UPI are as follows: (1) Increasing the visibility of UPI in the international arena; (2) Increasing the recognition of UPI lecturers (academic recharging, collaborative research, publications in top tier journals, becoming journal reviewers and editorials, active in journal socialization and editorial, active in world scientific socialization, hosting  international conferences, informative social media and website updates  in english); (3) Research programs for research topics that have high uniqueness, such as seaweed, cocoa, etc .; (4) Collaborative research program for university receiving WCU grant;. (5) International publication program with reviewed journal type; (6) Joining a global class research group and collaborating with world-class researchers; (7) Reward program for lecturers who have increased their number of publications and citations; (8) Alumni Gathering; (9) Conducting meetings / gatherings with companies that use graduates (concentrating more on domestic companies).

The UPI WCU program designed in 2021 is as follows:

No.ProgramsTotalAllocation
1Collaborative International Publications2520 millions
2Call for papers (5 special topics)3100 millions
3Indonesia Collaborative Research (PPKI)4100 millions for host; 50 millions for partnership
4Alumni Executive Gathering510 millions
5Summer Program750 millions
6Visiting Professor (Smart Class Lectures)205 millions/month

This budget was provided for each program designed to improve UPI’s ranking program. It is hoped that this WCU program can increase the ranking of UPI with a target in 2024 to be in the top 1000 in QR WUR. Hopefully what has been attempted and planned can be achieved in accordance with the target set by the UPI WCU Team. (Humas UPI/Translator: Aditya)