Academic Freedom: Understanding and Experience of Higher Education Lecturers in Indonesia

Abstract

Academic freedom is a universal concept inherent in the academic community of higher education. But in its implementation, it is always diverse because it attached to the cultural context and locality of the community. This research aims to find out the description of lecturers' understanding of academic freedom and determine challenges in the field based on their experience. Data were collected by in-depth interviews with 15 informants from 10 tertiary institutions located in 5 major islands in Indonesia. Data analysis was performed by describing data qualitatively using analytic reduction of statement identification, determination of core themes, and essence descriptions. The results showed that lecturers have an understanding of academic freedom to conduct or not to carry out activities based on the disciplines they engaged in, in the aspects of teaching, research, publication, and community service without any intervention. Lecturers also get treatment of restrictions on academic freedom conducted by leaders of higher education institutions, fellow lecturer colleagues, government officials, and community groups. Dialogue is the most common way lecturers do when faced with restrictions in academic freedom. Thus, it is important to formulate a broader and more detailed conceptualization to minimize the interpretation of the misuse of interests. Strengthening networks between lecturers and international institutions concerned with academic freedom is a form of academic policy.