Jakarta, 5 Mei 2025
The Reputation Team, Quality Assurance and Reputation Unit of Universitas Gadjah Mada (SPMRU UGM) attended the THE Masterclass 2025 event on May 5, 2025, held at the Science Techno Park Building, Universitas of Indonesia, Depok, West Java. This year’s THE Masterclass is the third annual meeting, after sessions at UNAIR (2023) and UGM (2024). Teams from other Indonesian state institutions also attended the tournament. Times Higher Education (THE) speakers were Julie Wilkens McMahon (Regional Director Asia Pacific THE) and Mei Mei Lim (Director Consultancy THE).
This activity is part of a series of programs to develop World Class Universities (UBD/WCU) at the Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology, as well as the Times Higher Education (THE) DataPoints and SDG Impact Dashboard services, which the ministry has subscribed to using joint funds from the 2023 Higher Education Endowment Fund (DAPT) program.
Times Higher Education (THE) is one of the rankings mandated by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Technology. The number of Indonesian universities participating in THE rankings has continued to increase since the inception of THE rankings in 2017 for THE WUR and 2019 for THE Impact. As of 2024, 31 universities in Indonesia have participated in THE WUR and 45 universities have participated in THE Impact.
This year’s Masterclass is structured into three major sessions: THE World University Rankings, Sustainability and University Impact Rankings, and Managing Reputation in Higher Education. THE discusses technique, data, strategy, the DataPoints Demo, and best practices at each session.
THE provides several important points regarding changes in the achievements of several pillars of all universities in Indonesia compared to the achievements of universities around the world in the 2018-2025 period. The increase in achievements resulted from the pillars of Teaching, Research Quality, and Research Environment, while the decline in achievements came from the pillars of industry and international. Therefore, THE emphasizes the importance of international collaboration to increase research, citations, and foreign students.
THE provides an overview of one of Indonesia’s universities, showing an 8-fold increase in the number of citations with international co-authorship compared to publications by single authorship. Furthermore, in terms of internationalization to increase the number of international students, THE presents the results of a survey of students from around the world. The top survey results indicate that students will consider universities based on their rankings, followed by their websites and social media. Therefore, branding and reputation are important aspects that universities need to improve. THE provides an overview of best practices that have been implemented as a form of encouragement for universities to improve the quality of their branding and reputation.
In conclusion, THE highlights that rankings are not the final aim, but rather one of several instruments for accomplishing it. UGM’s reputation team is devoted to supporting constructive efforts that promote the quality and reputation of higher education institutions.
