Singaraja- I Putu Eka Wilantara’s enthusiasm to improve his educational qualifications in the midst of his duties as Principal of SMAN 1 Singaraja, Buleleng Regency has never died down. This led him to earn a doctorate at the Undiksha Postgraduate Program, after taking an open exam, Wednesday (10/2/2021).
In front of the board of examiners, witnessed by the family, he can defend the results of his research on self-assessment. A number of questions can be answered straightforwardly. After the exam, he conveyed the impression of having earned a doctorate. According to him, this achievement is a matter of pride. It is undeniable, during the study, various challenges were faced, especially in the preparation of the dissertation. This challenge does not only come from oneself who is also busy as a school principal, but also the presence of the Covid-19 pandemic which has triggered a change in the situation. However, this can be overcome thanks to the extraordinary support from the Promoter and Co-Promoter. “Regarding the Covid period, several research instruments that I compiled were modified to suit the conditions on the ground,” he said.
On that occasion, he who chose the science education study program stated his reasons for pursuing doctoral qualifications to improve scientific quality, especially in the field of education related to current sciences, policies, and more specifically related to student assessment systems. “We feel that the S-3 level of education is the highest level of education and the major I took was education according to the field,” he said.
Regarding the results of his research, he hopes to be recommended to teachers and school principals to be implemented as an effort to support the advancement of education in Indonesia. “The important thing is that these results will continue to be developed in the future for friends at school, in Buleleng later. Hopefully, it will be used as a recommendation for the education assessment system in Indonesia,” he said.
Undiksha Postgraduate Director, Prof. Dr. I Gusti Putu Suharta, M.Sc., hopes that this doctoral achievement can be balanced with scientific development, especially in the field of education. “We appreciate the achievements of this doctor. Hopefully, we can always maintain the image of the Undiksha Postgraduate Program,” he said.
On this occasion, he emphasized that in an effort to improve the quality of graduates, the Undiksha Postgraduate Program continues to make improvements starting from the aspect of governance, service, and so on. In an effort to accelerate student graduation in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, this was carried out by distributing supervisors according to their areas of expertise and also paying attention to the burden on lecturers. “Thus, the lecturers will be more intense in providing guidance to students. The next thing is also, we leaders through coordinating study programs always advise to monitor students and lecturers in the process of completing this final project,” he explained.
These efforts are also supported by the establishment of an accelerated study service center whose job is to help students solve problems in their study, both academic and non-academic. “This is studied first. So that students can be helped to deal with the problems they face. Thus, the smooth running of the study is in accordance with what we expect. If the Master’s degree is two years of the normal study period. For S-3, three years,” he concluded.(hms)
