Preparing the Implementation of Merdeka Belajar – Kampus Merdeka Policy in Higher Education Institutions

The Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture has recently issued the policy of 'Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka' (MBKM) or Freedom to Learn-Independent Campus. While the Freedom to Learn policy is focused more on basic and secondary levels of education, the latter aims to regulate higher education levels. There are four important points of MBKM policy; 1) automatic re-accreditation for study program, 2) students' rights to study for three semesters outside study programs, 3) autonomy to establish study programs for qualified universities, and 4) freedom for State Universities to become Legal Corporation. These four programs are basically intended to give freedom for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) to be more autonomous, independent, less bureaucratic, and innovative. Of these four programs of MBKM policy, students' rights to study outside their study program for at least three semesters is quite interesting as it is meant to support 'link and match' program between the HEIs and their users. In the long run, this program is potential to increase students' employability and employment rates of graduates. However, as this policy is relatively new; and therefore, its implementation is still in scarcity, it could have been mistakenly addressed in HEIs. In addition, this policy is perhaps skeptically responded by some educators as it is not uncommon thing in Indonesia that every change in Minister of Education and Culture is resulted in the curriculum change as well. Therefore, while some universities have responded positively and start making actions regarding the policy, others are still debating, waiting for other universities to make actions regarding the new policy. Regardless the pros and cons opinions about the MBKM policy, the ideas of the policy itself remain obvious, supporting graduates' employability and linking them to the job market. Thus, MBKM policy can be a good solution to minimize the number of unemployment rate in Indonesia which reached 6.88 million people in February 2020, increasing up 60 thousand people compared to that in the previous year. This paper discusses the preparation in implementing the policy of MBKM in tertiary levels of education, especially in relation to graduates' employability.