MUHAMMADIYAH.OR.ID, JAKARTA – Muhammadiyah has 171 higher education institutions, with only 3,000 teaching staff members holding a doctorate. The Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development attempts to address the shortage by designing an acceleration program to have 5,000 teaching staff members with a doctorate by 2027.
The Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development, then, signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with Universiti Muhammadiyah Malaysia (UMAM), and Universiti Utara Malaysia at Hall of Masjid At-Tanwir of Muhammadiyah, Jakarta, on Monday (17 July).
“We expect to have 8,000 faculty members holding a doctorate. It means that 40 percent of our teaching staff members have held a doctorate in five years,” said the Chair of the Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development Prof. Dr. Bambang Setiaji, M.Si.
The staff will be encouraged to take a PhD program at UMAM. However, if the university does not offer a program in their area of interest, they will pursue it at the UUM or other Malaysian universities.
Furthermore, due to the LoI, the UUM offers 1,000 quotas for Muhammadiyah university teaching staff.
“The partnership enable Muhammadiyah university teachers to take their PhD at UUM,” said Prof. Dr. Bambang.
Besides, the Chairman of Muhammadiyah Syafiq A. Mughni mentioned the fitting partnership between Indonesia and Malaysia due to their geographical proximity and shared traits in religion, ethnicity, and culture. This collaboration aligns with the command of Allah mentioned in Al-Maidah verse 5, the command to cooperate.
“Muhammadiyah is delighted to collaborate with the UUM, one of the country’s finest universities. We will become stronger by working cooperatively towards a shared future with fairness and determination,” said Syafiq.
