The Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education Mohammad Nasir confirmed the possibility for bachelors of undergraduate degree (S1) and Diploma 4 (D4) to teach in universities.
Law no. 14/2005 stipulates that to become a lecturer, one is required to have Master's (S2) or Doctoral degree (S3), but with Presidential Regulation No.8/2017 on the National Qualification Framework (KKNI), S1 and D4 graduates are now allowed to join the range.
The most important thing to be qualified as lecturer for those S1 and D4 graduates is to posses professional working experience about the subject they are going to teach, according to the minister.
"Managerial experience in their field of work turns them into professionals. The grading is similar (to those with post-graduate and doctorate degrees)," said Nasir at the Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, Friday.
The newly-made policy had been applied in several universities, including Electronics Engineering Polytechnic Institute of Surabaya (EEPIS), Maritime Polytechnic Institute of Semarang (Polimarin), and Indonesian Institute of the Arts of Yogyakarta as Nasir claimed that the regulation was made to overcome lecturer shortage crisis.
Nasir explained that later the colleges would determine whether the lecturer candidate is eligible to teach at their place and a report to the government would also be needed.