IS HONORARIUM REQUIRED? REMOVING IRREGULARITIES IN STUDENT CREATIVITY PROGRAM IN INDONESIA

• Main Author: Agustin ANGGRIANI
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nicolae Titulescu University Publishing House 2014-05-01
• Series: Challenges of the Knowledge Society
• Subjects: Student Creativity Program in Indonesia; undergraduate students; removing irregularities; corruption risk; honorarium
• Online Access: http://cks.univnt.ro/uploads/cks_2014_articles/index.php?dir=10_education_and_sociology%2F&download=CKS+2014_education_and_sociology_art.091.pdf

Student Creativity Program or Program Kreativitas Mahasiswa (PKM) is a prestigious annual scientific program for undergraduate students in Indonesia. The program runs since 2001 and held by DP2M Dikti, Ministry of Education and Culture. In 2013, over 7000 program proposals are funded on a maximum budget of IDR 12,500,000 each. This program aims to improve the quality of undergraduate students in order to become a part of community who have the academic and/ or professionals ability, who can implement, develop and disseminate science, technology and/ or the arts and enrich the national culture.1 Unfortunately, there is the corruption risk in the program. This study aims to investigate irregularities by students in PKM, revealing the root causes and offering solutions for policy reform in PKM. This study uses triangulation method (interview-observation-documentation) for data gathering. Interviews were conducted to 30 students from 10 different universities in Indonesia. The study findings show that there are irregularities in PKM, such as marking up budget funds, futhermore, a lot of the remaining funds being used for private purposes. These occur because evaluators never ask about the remaining funds at the time of monitoring and evaluation (monev). Still, the budget does not include honorarium as a reward for the student’s hard work. In fact, the misuse of budget allocation for private purpose is not appropriate because it is contrary to Article 2 of Law No. 31/ 1999. A total of 26 out of 30 students agreed if there is honorarium in PKM, so there will be a giving back for their energy, time and thought. This study is very potential for removing irregularities and reforming policy of PKM in Indonesia, so the program is no longer contaminated by the corruption risk.