BANTUL — Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) will again maintain its status as an Independent Cluster higher education institution in early 2024 based on the Decree of the Director of Research, Technology and Community Service of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia Number 1350/E5/PG.02.00/ 2023 December 28, 2023.

Prof. Dyah Mutiarin, the Head of the UMY Research and Innovation Institute (LRI), emphasized, “The performance of higher education is based on an assessment of research and community service along with all research streams.” Wednesday (3/1/2024).

Prof. Arin explained how universities were clustered based on the performance data processed using Sistem Informasi Terpadu Perguruan Tinggi Indonesia (Sinta) (Eng: the Integrated Information System of Indonesian Higher Education) from 2020 to 2022. Prof. Arin added that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) carried out the clustering as a way to recognize research and community service performance nationally. Clustering will also affect the types of funds that can be accessed by universities.

“The points in the assessment for this ranking were identified from the performance data that has been verified and validated by LRI and LPM verifiers. The data includes authors, affiliations, articles, research, community service, intellectual property rights, and books,” explained Prof. Arin.

According to Prof. Dyah Mutiarin, as a university with an independent cluster, UMY can carry out research and community service through internal funds and government funding. Furthermore, due to this clustering, UMY lecturers have been provided with assistance internally and externally through the Ministry of Education and Culture.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chancellor I for Academic Affairs at UMY, Prof. Dr. Sukamta, ST. MT., IPM, stated that UMY-affiliated publication documents indexed by Scopus have reached 2.692 documents. These documents include those in the fields of Engineering, Social Science, Environmental Science and Computer Science, followed by other fields.

Dr. drh. Tri Wulandari Kepyaningsih, M. Kes. added that currently, 3 UMY journals have been indexed by Sinta 1 and also indexed by Scopus. 17 UMY journals have been indexed by Sinta 2, while the other 16 journals are spread across the journal rankings from Sinta 5 to Sinta 3. This journal ranking contributes value from an institutional perspective.

Head of Innovation Division, Ir. Agus Jamal, M.Eng., IPM., also added that until 2024, UMY will consistently push for research streams toward strengthening Intellectual Property Rights (IPR). Furthermore, the Head of the Research Strengthening Division, LRI UMY Sabtanti Harimurti PhD, stated that UMY requires every lecturer to conduct a minimum of one research study every year.

This obligation is determined to achieve the number of research targets. “Therefore, UMY has provided internal funding support for lecturers who will conduct research,” said Sabtanti, Ph.D.

Furthermore, lecturers can also access research funding assistance from external parties such as the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education, BRIN, and other external funding. UMY also encourages lecturers to be able to receive cooperation grants with foreign universities using international collaboration schemes. “Research is mandatory for all lecturers as one of the lecturers’ Tri Dharma is to research,” she concluded.