An “Englishman in New York”?
7.5 The Institution and the System: Creating Legal Aliens
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Full-timers spend more time on campus, so students can easily come to them to ask questions about academic matters. One thing that they can do more [than us] is they can build closer relationships with students; they know each student’s problems. While me, I only come once a week; that’s it. (Paul, PTA)
Social alienation is also felt through limited collegiality. Most of the PTA respondents admitted that they were offered an opportunity to teach because of a close relationship with one or more FTAs. However, due to the transactional nature of the employment scheme, the communication between PTAs and FTAs is not well established. This reduces direct conflict but also results in less engagement. Adding to the gap in communication between PTAs and FTAs, Josephine commented on the superficial nature of the relationship between them.
So far, what I’ve seen is that there is very little communication between part-timers and full-timers in my program. Part-timers come only for teaching, then they’ll leave. So, there is no interaction; it only happens in the big meeting before the semester starts. And for those who have taught here for a long time, that meeting has become no more than a formality.
(Josephine, FTA)
This situation is also facilitated by the institutional setting. As already widely published in other contexts, it is common not to give similar facilities to PTAs.
Descriptions of lacking a space to simply store personal belongings while teaching, the humiliation of not being able to supervise students in a proper place, and the lack of social space are common. Similar descriptions were also told by the PTA respon- dents. “As part-timers, we are not given a workstation, which actually could make us feel more like a part of the university” (Arianna, PTA). There is no setting that facilitates better engagement and collaboration between PTAs and the bigger insti- tutional context. Therefore, the underlying message that the relation is transactional is strong.
Feeling depressed or ashamed because of the lack of facilities is common (Gappa & Leslie, 1993; Rajagopal, 2000). Although this might be reasonable and a common method in other part-time employment, academics are arguably a different profession. Academics are more similar to a consulting profession, in which exper- tise and legitimacy play an important role in building up trust from clients, or in this case, students. Although regular students do not usually know the difference between PTAs and FTAs, their self-esteem is impacted by the way they are treated (Levin & Shaker, 2011). Alienation and a lack of facilities signal the hierarchy inside the institution (White, 2012). The lack of facilities and engagement puts PTAs in a position that seems to be half-existing or “disposable” (White, 2012).
7 The Part-Time Academic Identity: An “Englishman in New York”? 125
put further pressure on PTAs. An exploratory study of conversations in a Facebook group dedicated for lecturers reveals the potential abuse of the system in the academic employment. The study used keywords to explore the working conditions of non-full- time academics in Indonesia: NIDN, status, gaji (salary), sertifikasi dosen (lecturer certification), and jafung (academic position). The group has over 80,000 members, and for the purpose of this study, the data was limited from 2015 to 2020. The result of the study provides a deeper understanding of the macro- and meso- structure to the academics’ identity.
7.5.1 Abusing the System: Easy to Come, Not Easy to Go
Government regulations play an important role in defining the PTAs’ identity. As higher education in Indonesia is very prescriptive and heavily regulated in that every aspect of the profession is monitored, regulations are a key factor in the profession.
The aspects that are found to be important to PTAs’ academic identity are the formal categorization of PTAs, the home base bind, Tridharma, and certification. But it is not only about the instruments; it is also about stakeholders’ understanding of the complicated rules and the lack of rules of a minimum wage for lecturers.
The formal categorization of academics in Indonesia is reflected in the monitoring instruments provided, especially the registration number, according to the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education Rule No. 26/2015 on educators’
registration in higher education. The PTAs, who used to be called dosen tidak tetap (non-permanent lecturers), are the ones who come to teach and get paid based on their teaching hours. Their pay is determined by their credits taught and the administrative requirements of teaching such as monitoring exams, marking, and transportation.
For these academics, they should be given an NUP (Nomor Urut Pendidik/Educator Registration Number), and they are not calculated in the ratio of students–lecturers.
Their role is limited to teaching.
The permanent part-time lecturers are those who are active in non-academic professions but also teach as permanent part-time faculty members. They can be those who are active in industries, civil servants from other ministries, or retirees.
They should be given an NIDK (Nomor Induk Dosen Khusus/special lecturer regis- tration number) that allows them to be counted into the student–lecturer ratio and enables them to have an academic career and get nominated for lecturer certification.
Therefore, they are also obliged to do the full academic roles. The full-time academics are given an NIDN, which means that the institutions employ them full-time and give them a basic salary and involve them in the academia regularly. They must do the full academic load equal to a minimum of 12 credits and do all the academic roles as determined in the Tridharma of a higher education institution.
Although the definition is already clear, is rigid, and should enable the government to monitor the quality of learning in the institutions, we have seen that this system is still susceptible to abuse. There are individuals who have an NIDN, get a functional title, and receive a certification incentive but are not full-time staff in the institutions.
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They become aliens in this system and are susceptible to abuse. As expressed by a group member: “You get an NIDN [with] no functional title plus no (stable teaching) hours, eeee when (the accreditation) assessors coming (you) are praised to the sky, and then banned again” (Peter, 9/3/2019).
One important factor found is the relation of the academics with the higher educa- tion system via the institution. The public chat in the group repeatedly captured institutions’ abusive behavior toward PTAs. This phenomenon happens mainly in small private institutions, especially new institutions or new programs. The modus operandi usually asks the PTAs to submit documents to be registered for an NIDN, which will put them as full-time academics in the system, but in the end they are treated as non-permanent and get paid only based on the credits assigned.
…. in my institution, lecturers do not get any salary, payment is only based on teaching hour and based on credits, and it is bundled (if we get 10 credits x Rp 50,000) so we will get 500 thousand a month only for five months. (James, October 2020)
On paper, for an academic to be given an NIDN, it means that they have a contract with the institution as a full-time lecturer, proven by a formal letter from the education foundation and submitted to the government by the institution along with salary slips, as explained by a member:
Officially, if the HEI wants to apply the NIDN [for their lecturer] they have to attach salary slips of the last 6 months, if I’m not mistaken. [The slips] should be submitted by the institution. (David, March 2019)
The problem of disguising casuals into FTAs was mentioned repeatedly in different posts. It seems that the practice is already common as it is referred to as a “classic problem” (Henry, May 2015). This practice is mainly rampant among small private universities that rely on obtaining their incomes from tuition fees. They need to maintain the student–lecturer ratio to fulfill the accreditation requirement, but they are either unwilling to recruit FTAs or do not have enough funding to main- tain the required FTAs. As a result of this practice, the non-permanent academics are at risk for the following: uncertain teaching load, uncertain and small income (below the minimum wage), difficulty in teaching, and obstacles in applying to other institutions that have better conditions.
The trap of the home base, which starts from having an NIDN, has made PTAs’
lives difficult. Having an NIDN might give a false hope of gaining full-time or permanent employment. To gain an opportunity like that, many are willing to sacrifice themselves as having an academic position is considered as valuable and getting more difficult to gain. It is hoped that after getting the NIDN, they will be able to start the process of academic tenure (functional title/jabatan fungsional/jafung) after two years of service. After getting the first functional title, it is a matter of time before they are offered the lecturer certification, which will compensate for their low income for the first few years of service. This false hope has made people live under a depressing condition. Not only that, they have to live with an insufficient income that makes them have to supplement their income, but institutions are also reluctant to release these people to other employment opportunities.
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The problem of “surat lolos butuh” is another topic that often occurs in the public group. Literally translated as “release–need”, it is a letter from the employing insti- tution that they are willing to release the lecturer to another home base institution.
There are multiple stories of lecturers who could not get their release letter, and thus were trapped in the institution.
I’ve already started my home base move since last year. But I cannot get the release letter from the previous institution. I have tried everything…. (John, March 2020)
When a lecturer faces difficulty in resigning and moving one’s home base to another institution, there is already a mediation process provided by the government.
However, not everybody knows it, or it is not always successful as explained by a member: “I already did that (went to the government office), ma’am, but there was no response” (John, March 2020). In responding to this kind of case, other members of the groups will typically be advised to discuss the situation “nicely” with the leaders of the previous institution. Mediation and advocacy are seen as the next option.
This abuse of the system creates a group of academics who do not match the formal category of lecturers by the government: the full-time PTAs. They are formally full- time, but casuals in the field. This kind of employment brings uncertainties to the academics and can potentially further confuse their identity that should have been fostered by their institutions. Their existence is like a legal alien: registered on paper, but not getting the same treatment and facilities as their full-time counterparts.
7.5.2 Understanding of the Rules and Regulations
As has been discussed in the meso-level section, the home base trap and the power relations between institutions and the casuals lead them to be victims of abuse. This is amplified by the lack of understanding of the rules and regulations by the academics and also the officials. An academic experienced the difficulty of trying to move her home base institution. “Mine took a long time in taking care of the release letter and also because the operator here does not have enough experience, so I was the one who had to go here and there” (Barbara, May 2015). Her difficulty was actually only because her offer letter from the new institution did not have the phrase “the workload of 12 credits per semester”, and it took her almost two years to get around the bureaucracy. In this kind of case, a suggestion to ease the process is to be proactive.
“One more, you need to be PROACTIVE to take care of/find information about the process … do not simply wait or rely on the academic staff in your institution … the process is long and you need to be patieeeeeeent, upload many things, and constantly check if you have incomplete documents” (Helen, May 2016, original emphasis).
Incompetence, changing requirements, and a lack of sources of information about administrative requirements are used as a weapon against the PTAs, or the full-time casuals, by the institution. For the sake of accreditation requirements, some institu- tions even do not let their home base lecturers go easily. Complicated bureaucracy is even used to scare lecturers to withdraw or move their home base. “Every time there
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is a lecturer who wants to resign from this private university, they will be scared off (the home base bureaucracy). They will then offer an option to leave the NIDN there if I want to resign” (Adrian, March 2020).
For many private university lecturers, salary is also a significant part of the academic profession. A lecturer’s salary is generally low, which is an anecdote of dosen = kerjanya sak dos, gajinya sak sen (lecturer = a box-full of work, paid in a cent). The discrepancy of pay for PTAs is apparent, ranging from the basic minimum wage standard to teaching hour-based. One lecturer, who is a full-time PTA, said that he was paid about Rp 500,000 a month to teach 10 credits, and he was only paid for five months (George, October 2020). Another full-time PTA said that her institution paid a monthly salary at the level of public university lecturers, while also giving her opportunities to pursue a functional title and lecturer certification (Crystal, July 2018). The problem with pay was a point of debate between group members. There were those who thought that if someone wants to be a lecturer, then they should be ready to accept that without any complaints. The other side said that even academics need to have access to a minimum standard of living and that seeking better pay is justified.
It seems that it is better to be a laborer with a minimum wage that increases annually.
The problem is not all Master’s Degree holders can work in a place that has good career opportunities and financial rewards. (Paula, January 2018)
The academic profession is considered less attractive than being a laborer, despite the high requirements. Despite their graduate degrees, PTAs do not have the bargaining power to negotiate their incomes and do not have the benchmark of a reasonable salary.