The evaluation of higher education policy to drive university entrepreneurial activities in information technology learning

Abstract

This study discusses the role of university and industry in Indonesia’s higher education system, particularly in learning information technology and the related fields. Three data sources were used to collect information on learning practices, i.e., the higher education policies representing the government’s perspective, the knowledge capitalization practices representing the industry readiness to act as a joint provider of knowledge and skill with the university, and the perspectives of human learner as the subject of learning processes. The study proposes two-stage evaluation on higher education practices that consists of policy analysis and the evaluation of learning practices based on the model of learning system. The former is to map the higher education policy to the spectrum of university entrepreneurial activities, while the latter is the survey on learning practices participated by the industry, students, and alumni. Policy analysis identifies the blank spot on the activities of consulting, spin-off firm formation, and the creation of a technology park. The evaluation of learning practices shows that the university still becomes the dominant actors in the transfer of knowledge and skill, except for the fields of entrepreneurship and project management which the industry excels. These results indicate that university contributes primarily in growing the internal capacity of human resource, while the industry contribute in shaping the professional life. This study suggests that the practice of higher education in Indonesia requires a more aggressive strategy in triple helix relations to enable the achievement of knowledge society and knowledge economy by strengthening the whole spectrum of university entrepreneurial activities.