‘It’s all about the product’: doing research in neoliberal times in Indonesian higher education

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article explores Indonesian academics’ experiences in navigating the research process amidst the pressure of neoliberal ideology in higher education institutions in the country. Using Foucault’s concept of governmentality, this study seeks to understand how research schemes in Indonesia operate to self-discipline academics. Hence, they become neoliberal individuals that serve the interest of the market. This research adopts a qualitative design with ten academics from a university in Indonesia participating in it. Using interviews and focus group discussion, the result yields the intersection between positivism, knowledge economy and neoliberalism in shaping the research agenda in Indonesia. The findings suggest how research schemes in Indonesia focus on the research product that can be measured and marketed to the industrial sector. The findings also demonstrate the pervasiveness of the audit regime that constantly monitors Indonesian academics to conform to the neoliberal agenda. This article serves as an invitation for policy makers and academics to rethink research beyond the neoliberal agenda.