Indonesian lecturer earns $160/month despite 16 years experience, doctorate

An Indonesian university lecturer has revealed her meager salary of $2.6 million rupiah ($160) per month, a figure that has remained unchanged for over a decade despite her qualifications and experience. Cenuk Widiyastrisna Sayekti, a lecturer at Universitas Airlangga (Unair), shared her situation during a court hearing for the law on teachers and lecturers.

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This means that after more than a decade of a career as a lecturer, pursuing doctoral education, and obtaining a teaching certification, my basic income as a permanent lecturer remains at a very limited level.

Sayekti began her academic career in 2010 at Universitas Lancang Kuning, earning $1.2 million rupiah ($75) monthly. After pursuing doctoral studies at Macquarie University in Australia, she obtained her teaching certification in 2020. In 2022, she moved to Unair, where she initially received $2.6 million rupiah, a salary that has not increased since.

"This means that after more than a decade of a career as a lecturer, pursuing doctoral education, and obtaining a teaching certification, my basic income as a permanent lecturer remains at a very limited level," Sayekti stated. She emphasized that her role involves more than just classroom teaching, encompassing research and institutional responsibilities, which she feels are not reflected in her compensation.

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The main problem is not just the small nominal amount, but also because the welfare of lecturers does not rely on a sufficiently strong basic salary.

Adding to her concerns, Sayekti mentioned that her professional allowance, which supplements her base salary, is contingent on meeting performance criteria. She recently received a salary of $3.3 million rupiah ($205), including the base pay and various allowances. However, she fears losing this allowance next semester as her workload assessment was deemed "not meeting" the requirements. She also recounted instances where her community service and research activities were not recognized or funded due to issues related to her employment status, despite her being a permanent non-civil servant lecturer at Unair.

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Next semester, my lecturer performance workload will be declared as not meeting the requirements, which means next semester I will not receive the lecturer certification allowance.