PhD Student by Enrollment, Policy Nerd by Circumstance
PhD Student by Enrollment, Policy Nerd by Circumstance
by Rahayu
Education policy and politics? Basically, a package deal. And lucky me, I’ve had the privilege of experiencing both sides. From the education world to the political arena, I get to see how political decisions shape classroom realities and how education on the ground challenges the policies made at the top. Because behind every policy is power and authority, behind every decision is politics, and behind every PhD student is someone who voluntarily signed up to study the whole thing. Yes, it’s me. I did this to myself.
And somehow, the plot keeps expanding. Getting involved in the think tank world as a Founding Associate at Kertanegara Institute has already given me a new perspective on policy beyond academia. Yesterday (10/27), thanks to Dr. Philips Vermonte, the Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, I got the chance to learn from a diplomatic event featuring Permanent Representatives to the UN from eight countries. For real, my PhD journey is PhD-ing.
To be honest, I’m thankful for the opportunity to learn at the Faculty of Education at UIII, where my PhD is pushing me to see education beyond the classroom. Education is not just about pedagogy. It’s also about policy, governance, power, politics, and the whole system behind what eventually happens in the classroom. Needless to say, I’m not leaving my expertise; I’m upgrading it. From my very first semester, I began looking beyond micro level and start asking who designed the macro-level in the first place. Same passion. Broader lens. Sharper POV. Right?
Yesterday’s diplomatic event really got me thinking about how power operates beyond national borders and how global influence is built. It is not through diplomacy alone; it also depends on how countries educate and prepare their next generations to think critically, understand power, and participate in shaping the world. Education cannot guarantee that every voice will be heard, but it can help young people develop the tools to question existing systems, engage with global issues, and participate in shaping their futures.
During the discussion, I had the opportunity to raise a question to Ambassador Lippwe of the Federated States of Micronesia about how smaller nations can make their voices heard in a world where political and economic power is unevenly distributed. This question became more tangible during my conversation with Ambassador Lippwe. His diplomatic experience ended up with another perspective about something beyond international representation: what does it take to ensure that people have not only a voice, but also the capacity to make that voice count?
I know I am privileged. Throughout my PhD, I have received support from my beloved lecturers in both Education and Political Science, who have encouraged me to cross disciplinary boundaries, challenging assumptions, and asking bigger questions. Not everyone gets that kind of support. I have been given the opportunity to question the system rather than simply learn how to operate within it.
But at the same time, that also makes me wonder: What about those who are not as lucky as I am? What happens to students and educators whose questions are dismissed, whose perspectives are overlooked, or whose voices never reach the spaces where decisions are made? How many valuable ideas never get the chance to develop simply because people lack the access, support, or institutional recognition they need?
This is what makes me questioning further about the systems behind education. Inequality is not only about who gets access to a classroom. It is also about who gets access to opportunities, whose knowledge is taken seriously, and who has the power to influence decisions. Some people are given the space to question the system. Others are expected to live with its consequences. Does that ring a bell for you?
Well, speaking of opportunities, my PhD keeps opening the right doors. Right after the session, I had a surprisingly long conversation with Ambassador Lippwe. He wanted to know what had shaped my way of thinking. He even wrote down his email address on a piece of paper. And then came the line I wasn’t expecting: “If you happen to come to New York, let me know. I’ll welcome you to UN Headquarters.”
New York and the UN Headquarters? Definitely going on my wishlist.
Seeking Knowledge as Far as China: Reflections from the Shaanxi Normal University Summer Camp
Seeking Knowledge as Far as China: Reflections from the Shaanxi Normal University Summer Camp
By Afifah Muharikah
The popular saying , "Seek knowledge even as far as China," now truly hits home. I learned so much as a visiting scholar at the Shaanxi Normal University Summer Camp, Xi’an Province in China, 14–30 September. This programme is designed for early-career researchers in educational technology. I was lucky to work under Professor PI Zhongling, whose record in educational technology and neuroscience is very impressive.
I brought home three things from this visit: the shared responsibility of raining the next generation, the importance of sustained mentoring in building strong research groups, and the role of willingness in cross-cultural communication.
1. "It takes a village to raise a child"
Professor PI brought me into contact with master's and PhD students working on topics related to my research in inclusive education and neurodivergence through her research laboratory. Beyond her research expertise, I was curious about how she managed a productive research group while raising her primary school-aged daughter.
My visit to a Chinese primary school helped me reflect on this question. The school day ran approximately from 8 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. They had a physical exercise session, moral education, academic lessons, shared meals, afternoon naps, and reading activities. I was in awe of how AI and robots were integrated into schools without replacing the human relationships between students and teachers.
I might not fully understand the entire Chinese education system, but the visit made me reflect on the importance of institutional support in children's development. Later, Professor PI and I discussed her daughter's routines outside school, including homework, family dinners, and preparing for the following school day. This light discussion has reminded me of the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child.” I can see the government in China, through schools, provides the children structured learning during the whole day. At home, families continue nurturing these children. This shared responsibility made me see the role of academic institutions in supporting parents differently, especially the working ones.
2. “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
The second lesson came from observing Professor PI's laboratory. She runs a weekly meeting for all her master's and PhD students. Students present their work or a good experimental paper, and she encourages them to critically examine the paper and consider replicating the study with strong methodology. Experimental research is deeply instilled in her lab, yet she often uses mixed methods herself, believing qualitative approaches can complement experimental findings. Her lab has produced many studies published in high-quality journals, and many of her master’s and PhD students have published their own work. To me, this shows how successfully she has built a strong research environment, a living example of the saying “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
Moreover, I was impressed by the way she built connections among students. During my visit, two new PhD students from Pakistan joined the group. Professor PI invited them, her current PhD students, and me to her office to introduce ourselves and share our research interests. This simple introduction created opportunities for students to connect with each other outside formal lab meetings (such as communicating via WeChat just to ask about where to find Qīngzhēn (halal) food to potential research collaborations).
The experience in Prof PI's lab has inspired me to practice the same things. I am thinking about establishing regular meetings with my students under my academic guidance and help them connect with each other. By doing so, I hope I could help my students to develop their research skills and build a stronger sense of academic community.
3. "It takes two to tango"
My third lesson came from my everyday interactions with local people there. I had a chance to present my dissertation about cross-neurotype interactions in Prof. PI's weekly lab, which was attended by almost 30 students, mostly locals. My presence and the two Pakistani students turned the usual Chinese into English. The local students looked very attentive, yet only the Pakistani students and Prof. PI joined the discussion. I honestly worried whether my English was accessible enough. After class, however, two local master's students told me my lecture was very clear and they learned new things about autistic communication. Their feedback reminds me of my own finding in my dissertation: that silence does not always indicate disengagement. People may engage with us without necessarily expressing themselves through spoken discussion.
Outside campus, I experienced inter-language interactions in unique ways. As I do not speak Mandarin and English is not widely spoken there, communication breakdowns are not something unusual. Some people readily helped by interpreting, while others used translation apps. On a few occasions, people declined to help. In responding to the breakdown, the people there and I would use available communication resources such as gestures, limited Chinese or English words, and technology. I often asked them to repeat their expressions when the app I used could not detect what they said and I could see they patiently repeated their words over and over.
“ It takes two to tango” is a fitting expression when we talk about interactions. It reminds us that both successful and unsuccessful interactions are shaped by the parties involved. Whether the “dance” goes smoothly or becomes challenging, the interaction can still be worked through as long as both parties are willing to stay on the dance floor. If one party gives up, however, the dance comes to an end. In my experience, sometimes I manage to complete the dance successfully and effortlessly; sometimes it takes more effort, and sometimes I fail to finish it. And that, to me, is the art of intercultural communication.
Bringing the Lessons Home
My visit to China gave me something greater than academic development. I learned about shared responsibility in raising children, sustained mentoring in research, and the patience required for cross-cultural communication. But more than that, I came home with friends who searched for halal food with me, a few words of Mandarin, a deeper meaning of the saying I grew up with: seek knowledge, even as far as China.
Focus on Long-Term Impact, keeping your ultimate vision in mind even when progress feels slow
Focus on Long-Term Impact, keeping your ultimate vision in mind even when progress feels slow
by Agustian Ramadana Putera
Publishing a paper in a reputable scientific journal is something I consider a distant achievement. When I got the news this morning that my paper draft had been accepted and officially published in the journal website, my first reaction was not just excitement. I felt very grateful, alhamdulillah bi ni’matihi tatimmu sholihat, and also reflective.
As a student who pursue Ph.D degree and as a novice researcher, I begin to realize that academic publication is not just about having paper published, read by plenty of people and hopefuly cited by other researchers. Behind every publication, there is a long process of learning and very slow progress: learning how to generate questions, synthesize the literature, collect and analyse the data, drafting the menuscript and respond to reviewer criticism, and probably learn to accept the first version of my draft is not rarely the best version.
This experience also triggered me to think about academic culture where novel researchers can grow. In numerous Indonesian universities, publication has become one parts of academic requirement encountered by many students, especially master and doctoral. In several cases, students may be required to publish their writings in reputable journal and this becomes the prerequisite for them to graduate. Through formal policy, institutions attempt to encourage students to involve in scholarly conversation and introduce them to standards of academic publishing. This probably add another burden to students who in fact is not having skills, expertise and experience in journal article publication.
Yet another side of the story exists.
When publication is manifested as primary requirement of graduation, students may view research differently. They probably conduct research because they have to. They may pick a research topic due to its manageability, not because they are really curious about the topic. They may then be keen on publication because they want to graduate as soon as possible, instead of the desire to contribute to a wider academic community. In this case, I never declare that publication policy is totally flawed in principle. The concern is probably what happen around that obligation.
Do students obtain sufficient support that help them to develop as novice researcher? Do they have people who are willing to discuss their idea, check their draft, and accompany them throughout difficult revision time? Do they feel research as an intellectual journey or just like another administrative responsibility? For me personally, this is where academic culture of Faculty of Education (FoE), Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) has made a meaningful distinction.
I have been blessed to encounter an environment that encourage me to see research not merely as something that must be finished, but as something that can be developed. The support from academics, staff, colleague, and my wife, who is also student of FoE UIII and author of this paper, has given me space to ask question, reflect on mistakes, refine my thinking, and of course keep trying.
As a novice researcher who is always learning, this kind of condition matter enormously. A productive research cannot be achieved by setting a high publication target. It begins from an environment where students can learn safely, ask question continuously, and feel backed enough to keep improving.
This is indeed crucial for PhD students, particularly for those who will be in academics field for their chosen career. We are still learning how to navigate the academic world. We are learning to transform curiosity into research questions, observation into evidence, idea into scholarly contribution, and so forth. How well students develop is significantly influenced by the environment in which learning actually takes place.
This is the reason why I view this publication more than just my private accomplishment. Because of the fortune I received from FoE UII, I hope that I am able to provide a similar environment for my students later. I want them to feel research not as forced obligation, but as an opportunity to explore ideas and satisfy curiosity. If the support I obtained today change the way I approach research, hopefully I can inherit that experience to the students I supervise in my university.
Life Is Short, the Craft Is Long, and Opportunity Fleeting: An FoE Dual-Degree Student's Notes from London
Life Is Short, the Craft Is Long, and Opportunity Fleeting: An FoE Dual-Degree Student's Notes from London
By Aliva Erhan
How does it feel when life ultimately carries you to a place you have never been before? Miles away from familiarity, with a definite task to accomplish and a distinct load to bear? How does it feel when, after two years of study, you are set to earn two master’s degrees from two institutions of your choice, with twice as many opportunities to explore your passions? When it happened to me over this past year, it turned out to be a bittersweet journey: demanding yet deeply rewarding for the chance to see a broader world. And here I am, the first dual-degree student in the MA in Education at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia, currently in my second year of the program, pursuing the MA in Islamic Studies at SOAS University of London.
On September 20, 2026, at 12:35 PM BST, Heathrow Airport became London's first greeting to me. I flew alone, experiencing a roughly 19-hour flight for my very first trip abroad from Indonesia. My family and classmates from the MA Education Batch 5 came to see me off at the airport that night, blessing me with their support and prayers. I am pursuing this program under the LPDP scholarship, which I applied for through the regular track in Batch 1 of 2025. After a rigorous selection process, I finally started my studies in MA Education at UIII in September 2025 before transitioning to MA Islamic Studies at SOAS University of London in September 2026.
Given the demanding nature of this program, I am fortunate to have academic advisors from both universities easing my path. At UIII, Assoc. Prof. Tati Latipatud Durriyah, Ph.D., as my academic advisor, assisted me in evaluating course selections and calculating credits, through continuous consultation sessions, both offline and online. The Dean, Prof. Nina Nurmila, Ph.D., also actively monitored my application progress to SOAS. My application to SOAS was submitted independently, much like any standard full-year MA application, and it was submitted during my second semester at UIII, only with a dual-degree cover letter from the faculty. Now in my second year, I have been assigned Prof. Mustafa Shah from SOAS as my academic advisor, who has been equally communicative and highly responsive.
As it turns out, undertaking a dual degree is highly rewarding, especially when you are studying something you are genuinely passionate about. Not to mention having the chance to connect with people from various countries, cultures, backgrounds, academic fields, and institutions. For someone who enjoys observing and reflecting on the richness of the living world, like me, it brings a deep sense of satisfaction. Opportunities to engage in international events and conferences are also boundless. In my case, studying in London means such events are happening almost constantly. Similarly, at UIII in Depok, being so close to Jakarta meant there were abundant opportunities to enrich both academic and non-academic experiences. With that in mind, as long as time and my personal capacity allow, I try not to miss them.
However, the responsibility and consequences are also significant. A dual degree means taking on double coursework, including, in my case, another 180 credits at my second university. Before going further, though, it is worth noting that dual-degree schemes may vary across universities. Hence, it is essential to thoroughly research and understand the technical details from the very beginning (consulting directly with the faculty can provide clear guidance on this). While non-dual-degree students can start to focus on independent study and theses in the third semester, I still have to complete a whole new set of modules at the partner university while writing two theses. Nevertheless, for me, this remains entirely worth it for the opportunity and exposure it brings.
Academic workload is indeed one of the most important things to consider for those who are interested in taking this program. Ideally, it is best to map out your academic direction and goals early on to simplify module selection. Beyond that, as much as possible, choose a field that aligns with your interests. This is because psychological well-being deserves equal consideration; a demanding academic workload combined with a disconnect in interest or study environment would only multiply the mental toll.
Furthermore, the ability to adapt quickly is essential. Dual-degree students have to go through a relatively compressed cycle of adaptation: settling in at the first university at the start of year one, completing modules, packing up by the end of the year, then settling in at the partner university in the second year, completing more modules and theses, and then packing up again by the end of the year, to finally settle into ‘real life’ all over again. Life is short, the craft is long, and opportunity fleeting, Hippocrates said. Sometimes, it can feel almost unreal to learn from experts in their respective fields, to encounter so many ideas and disciplines, to immerse yourself in unfamiliar ways of thinking, all within such a remarkably short period of time. We are not yet experts, yet everything passes so quickly. But perhaps that is what life is: fleeting before our eyes as we live it. After all, coming back to the context of pursuing a dual degree, this is not a small commitment, and neither are many of the other decisions we make in life. It is worth taking the time to understand what we are choosing, what it may ask of us, and whether we are ready to embrace it.
By the time this essay is published, I will have spent almost three weeks in London. At UIII, I used to study and do my work in the student room of the Faculty A Building, at the corner, across from Classroom 18. Now here, I have found a new basecamp: the lounge on the lower ground floor of the SOAS main building, just around the corner from the female prayer room. The learning experience at both institutions has been deeply fulfilling for me. I have been able to benefit from the strengths of each university, and most importantly, I have found what I need and what matters to me. Moving forward, perhaps I will also have more opportunities to explore the UK further and, if time allows, Europe as well? Until the next chapter. May every dreamer draw closer to what they dream of and to what is good and meant for them.
Lesson Learned and Future Collaboration: A Reflection on Joining a Summer Program at Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU)
Lesson Learned and Future Collaboration: A Reflection on Joining a Summer Program at Shaanxi Normal University (SNNU)
by Destina Wahyu Winarti
Lecturer at the Faculty of Education, UIII
The opportunity to participate in the Summer Program at Shaanxi Normal University, in Xi’an, China was a meaningful and insightful experience for me, both academically and personally. Funded by the Chinese Government Scholarship 2026, the program was held from 14 to 29 September 2026 and was designed to foster international academic exchange and research collaboration. Five participants from Indonesia, including myself, joined this program which was particularly designed for graduate students and early-career researchers.
One of my first impressions of SNNU was the academic environment at Yanta Campus. The arrangement was quite different from what I am accustomed to in Indonesia. During our visits to three Professors’ laboratories, I noticed that professors and their postgraduate students worked together in the same space. Ph.D and master’s students generally worked on research projects related to their supervisors’ areas of expertise. I found this arrangement particularly interesting because it seemed to encourage close interaction between supervisors and students. Being physically together also created opportunities for frequent discussion, exchange of ideas, and informal academic conversation. In my view, this environment can help sustain students’ engagement and perseverance in their research.
I was also struck by the relationship between professors and students. Despite working in the same room and interacting frequently, I observed a strong sense of respect toward professors. This reminded me of the cultural differences I experiences during my own education in the Netherlands and Australia, where relationships between students and lectures tend to be more informal. As someone from an Asian cultural background, I found the academic cultural I observed at SNNU familiar and, in some ways, more aligned with my own cultural understanding of respect for teachers.
A particularly valuable part of the program was the opportunity to work closely with Professor Ma Hongliang, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Education and head of the AI and STEM Education Research Center. From the second day of the program, we began discussing possibilities for future collaborative research. I found this especially exciting because our research interests intersect in STEM Education, although we approach it from somewhat different perspectives. Professor Ma’s work focuses strongly on teachers’ professional development (PD), Artificial intellegence or AI, robotics, applications, and the practical implementation of STEM Education, while my research interest focuses more on spatial thinking, students learning, and the conceptual foundations and values of STEM education.
Our discussion helped me reflect on my own research direction. I realized that I have increasingly focused on understanding what STEM education means, why particular aspects of STEM learning are important and how spatial thinking can contribute to meaningful STEM learning. At the same time, Professor Ma’s work offers a strong connection to the practical implementation of STEM through technologies such as AI and robotics. I believe these complementary perspectives provide a promising foundation for collaboration between SNNU and UIII. Together, we hope to explore STEM education not simply as the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics or as the use of advanced technologies, but as an approach that develops meaningful ideas, values and students’ interests in STEM fields.
The workshops offered during the program also provided valuable learning opportunities. The sessions covered STEM teachers’ Professional Development (by Prof, Ma Hongliang), designing better video-based learning (by Prof, Pi Zhongling), generated instructional videos and the design of video-based pedagogical agents (by Prof. Zhou Yun) and assessing students’ computational thinking (by Dr. Wang Qin). These topics were closely connected to my research interest and provided new perspectives that may inform my future research and potential collaborations with SNNU.
Beyond the academic activities, I also appreciated the opportunity to learn about Chinese education and culture. Visiting the Museum of Education at SNNU Chang’an campus helped me understand how education, teacher education, history, and traditional culture have developed in China. The museum’s integration of education, research, cultural preservation and art provides a broader perspective on the relationship between education and society.
The visit to Xi’an Gaoxin No. 50 Primary School was another memorable experience. Seeing the school environment, students’ activities, and learning facilities allowed me to observe aspects of primary education in China firsthand. I was particularly interested in the school daily schedule, from 8.00 am to 4.30 pm, which is relatively long compared with many Indonesian primary schools. This observation made me wonder about the relationship between the amount of time students spend at school and their academic development, wellbeing and attitudes toward learning. It is a question that I would be interested in exploring further rather than simply assuming that longer school hours necessarily lead to better outcomes.
Overall, the summer program at SNNU gave me so much more than exposure to another university and education system. It encouraged me to reflect on my own academic identity, research interest, and assumptions about education. Not every practice I observed in China can or should be directly applied to the Indonesian context. However, the experience reminded me that international academic exchange is precisely valuable because it allows us to see our own practices from a different perspective.
Most importantly, I see this program not as the end of an academic visit, but as the beginning of a potential long-term relationship between SNNU and UIII. I hope that the connections established during these two weeks will develop into meaningful collaborative research, particularly in STEM education, teacher professional development, AI, and spatial thinking, while ultimately contributing to efforts to build students’ interest and engagement in STEM fields.
A Reflection on My Journey at UIII
A Reflection on My Journey at UIII
By Mohammad Dawood Alkozay (M.A in Education batch 4 student)
I still remember, as if it happened only yesterday, the day I held my ticket and my visa in my hand, ready to travel to Indonesia. That feeling has not faded from my memory even a little bit, although now, when I look back, I cannot believe that it has already been two years since that day. Time here has passed so fast, faster than I ever expected. Maybe it is because Indonesia does not have four different seasons like my home country, so the days blend into each other without me noticing. Or maybe, and I think this is the real reason, it is because I have been happier here than I thought I would be, and happiness always makes time move quickly without permission.
Since I was young, it had always been my dream to study abroad one day and to know, with my own eyes and ears, what it truly means to live inside an international community, surrounded by people from every corner of the world. I have always held the belief that human beings do not learn only from the pages of a book. We learn, perhaps even more, from experience and from meeting people who are different from us. To me, every person is like a book waiting to be read, because every person carries their own ideas and their own beliefs inside them, and once we open ourselves to interaction with them, a new window opens in our mind that shows us a way of thinking we had never considered before.
Honestly speaking, when I first started this program, I was not very interested in the field of Education itself. My heart and my mind were somewhere else. But slowly, day by day, I began to learn things that I could never have learned if I had not come to Indonesia. Most of what I gained did not come only from my lecturers or from the articles I read, though those were valuable too, but from the interactions I had with different individuals around me. I built friendships here, real friendships, the kind that I believe will remain with me until the end of my life. At the same time, the lessons I received from my professors and from the books they gave me opened new horizons in the way I see the world. They deepened my understanding of education, of how important it is for mankind, and of how much it contributes to shaping individuals who can, in turn, shape a better society.
Beyond the classroom, living in Indonesia taught me lessons of a more practical kind, lessons that no amount of money could ever buy, no matter how much I paid for my studies. Here, I learned the value of things I had always taken for granted back home. Cooking my own food, washing my own clothes, cleaning my own room, going out to buy groceries, all these small and ordinary tasks made me finally understand how much time and effort my mother and my sisters had been saving for me all those years, quietly, without me ever noticing. I did not know the true value of what they did for me until I had to do it all by myself, far away from them. There is a well-known saying in the Persian language, which, translated simply, means that a man cannot become a complete man without traveling. I feel, now, that I have become more complete, and that I have gained a kind of maturity that I believe will help me live a happier and more grounded life once I return to my country.
I truly believe that studying here will open many doors for me in the future, even though I come from a country that has suffered from war for a long time, where finding proper employment is never an easy task. But even if those doors do not open as I hope, I will never regret the decision I made to come and study at UIII. What I have learned here, I would not exchange for millions of dollars. I am deeply thankful to the administration of UIII for giving me this opportunity, and I am equally thankful to my instructors, who I once thought were not doing enough to help me, but whom I later understood were doing exactly what a teacher should do.
I remember, for instance, during my thesis writing I went to my first thesis supervisor, with a question about which theory I should use for my research. Instead of simply telling me the answer, he would point to a book on his shelf and ask me to read it myself. At first, I found this frustrating, even a little strange, and I wondered why he would not simply name the correct theory and save my time. It was only later that I came to understand that what he was doing was, in fact, the right way to teach. By guiding me toward books instead of giving me easy answers, he was showing me the most practical way to learn how to think and work as a proper researcher. I once believed this method was a waste of time, but now I know how much I gained from those very books he recommended. There are many more stories like this one that I wish I could share, but the limits of this reflection do not allow me to write them all here.
As I sit here now, trying to gather all these memories into words, I realize that no reflection, however long, could ever truly capture what these years in Indonesia have given me. UIII was not only a place where I studied for a degree; it was a place where I grew, quietly and slowly, into a person I did not know I could become. I came here as a student searching for knowledge, but I am leaving as someone who has also found friendship, patience, humility, and a deeper love for learning itself. Whatever the future holds for me, whether the doors of opportunity open easily or not, I will always carry this chapter of my life close to my heart. To Indonesia, to UIII, and to everyone who walked a part of this journey with me, I owe a debt of gratitude that words alone cannot repay.
Learning to Look Beyond the Individual: Reflections on the Thesis Journey
Learning to Look Beyond the Individual: Reflections on the Thesis Journey
by Erisa Oksanda
The idea of my thesis research topic came from the discomfort about the issue of bullying in higher education in Indonesia. Bullying in educational settings was always concerning for me and as I read more, I noticed many discussions centered only on victim and perpetrator, while few research discusses bystanders in the dynamic of bullying. The concern about bullying slowly becomes curiosity and leads to research ideas.
Having an interesting idea was only the beginning of my thesis journey. “Bystander” turned out have a broader concept than I expected. I spent some time to define what I wanted to study and considering the time so I can realistically finish my thesis on time. Throughout the process, my conceptual framework also changed several times as I got more insight from the reading material that I found and started to question my understanding. In this journey, I am lucky to have Dr. Charyna as my supervisor who always patiently guided me to untangle my confusion. Beside constructing a suitable framework for my thesis, I also need to find the appropriate instrument to measure my variables within the framework. This phase felt like another roller coaster ride for me. I feel lucky to have had Dr. Bambang as my supervisor, who patiently guided me throughout the process, from finding instruments to reporting my findings.
The results were probably the part of the thesis that surprised me a lot. Some of my findings came out different from what I had expected based on previous literature, particularly previous literature conducted outside the Southeast Asian context. For instance, my finding showed that 80% of the bystanders in my study reported that they had helped a victim of bullying at least once during their time in the university. This was interesting because previous literature I found described bystanders as being reluctant to intervene. Instead of simply seeing my finding as contradictory, I started wondering whether it was telling me something about how we define bystanders and how bystander behavior may be shaped by the Indonesian educational and cultural context.
This was also where I felt my perspective as a researcher started to develop. My undergraduate background in Psychology has taught me to think about individuals, psychological constructs, theories, and measurement. That background was helpful when developing my thesis framework and working with psychological instruments. However, studying Education encouraged me to look beyond the individual. I began to ask how psychological processes occur within educational environments and relationships. In my thesis, empathy and emotion regulation were not simply individual psychological characteristics, they were connected to students’ experiences as members of a university community and to how they responded to bullying around them.
I feel that my thesis journey is not only a process to earn another degree but also a transition between the two fields. In Psychology, I was often interested in understanding why individuals think, feel, or behave in certain ways. Through education, I became increasingly interested in how those processes are shaped by context. The bystander became particularly meaningful to me because a bystander is not simply an individual who possesses certain psychological characteristics. A bystander is also a student, a peer, and a member of an educational community who has to make decisions within a particular social environment.
Looking back, I do not think I could have predicted how this thesis would develop when I first brainstormed the idea. There were many moments of confusion, methodological challenges, unexpected findings, and countless discussions with my supervisors. Yet, those challenges were also what made the process meaningful. My supervisors' guidance helped me move from a broad concern about bullying to a focused research question, from uncertainty about measurement to conducting pilot testing to collecting the primary data, and finally from simply reporting results to asking what those results might mean.
Most importantly, I learned that completing a thesis is not only about producing a final document. It is the process where I am starting to question definitions, reconsider assumptions, and recognize when a result opens a new question rather than providing a final answer. My thesis writing journey has made me realize that I do not want to look at human behavior only as an individual phenomenon. I want to understand people within the contexts in which they learn, interact, belong, and grow. In that sense, this thesis has been not only an academic project, but also an important part of discovering what kind of researcher I want to become.
Becoming a Researcher, One Revision at a Time
Becoming a Researcher, One Revision at a Time
By Lakhaula Sahrotul Aulia
My thesis journey began around July 2025, when I started brainstorming what I wanted to study. Since the Indonesian government launched its climate change education guidelines at the end of 2024, I have been interested in exploring climate change education. However, I quickly learned that having an interesting idea was not enough. I needed to understand what had been studied, where the gaps were, and, most importantly, what could actually be investigated and measured.
This was when the literature review became both exciting and overwhelming. As I read, my conceptual and theoretical frameworks developed alongside each other, but my ideas kept changing. I explored misconceptions, reconsidered my variables, questioned how they should be measured, and even considered a mixed-methods approach before deciding to remain with a quantitative design. Conversations with several lecturers helped me see my research from different perspectives, but ultimately, I had to keep questioning my own choices. It took me ten revisions before I finally arrived at my final conceptual framework, each revision was accompanied by extensive literature review.
Looking back, determining my variables and figuring out how to measure them was probably the most challenging part of my thesis journey. A research idea can sound convincing in theory, but quantitative research requires those ideas to become measurable constructs. I often felt alone in this process because everyone was busy developing their own research.
Once my framework was finalized, however, the literature review became much easier to write because I had already read and organized so much. Even before having an official thesis supervisor, I was grateful that UIII lecturers were always open to discussion. That culture of intellectual generosity became an important part of my learning experience.
While many people felt relieved after the proposal seminar, those of us conducting quantitative research were entering another demanding stage: instrument adaptation. Finding a validated instrument was only the beginning. We still needed to translate it, conduct expert judgment, and pilot test it to ensure validity and reliability. I completed my expert judgment during the last week of Ramadan and remain deeply grateful to the experts who generously gave their time and expertise.
My instrument required two rounds of pilot testing. While some of my friends could proceed to their main data collection after one pilot, I had to revise several items and conduct another round. I felt left behind and had to postpone my main data collection by approximately two weeks. But I did it anyway. Throughout this process, A/Prof. Bambang was incredibly responsive whenever I reported my Rasch analysis, helping me move quickly to the next stage.
Then came data collection, which became another unexpected challenge. My study required participants from twelve universities, while I had almost no connections within PGPAUD or PIAUD departments because my own background was in science education. I was genuinely worried that I would not reach my required sample size.
So, I tried everything I could: asking friends for contacts, messaging student associations on Instagram, searching university websites, contacting lecturers through email, and eventually recruiting research assistants. I never expected to have sixteen research assistants across twelve universities. Together, they helped collect data from 521 participants. Considering my limited positionality and connections within the field, this remains one of the achievements I am most proud of.
After data collection, the challenges continued. I had to repeat my analyses several times because of small but consequential mistakes: entering the wrong table code in Winsteps, changing a Likert scale incorrectly, or forgetting to reverse-code an item. Sometimes, I had to start the analysis again from the beginning. It was incredibly frustrating. When I told Dr. Destina how overwhelmed I was, she advised me to step away and return with a fresh mind. So I stopped working for a day to cry, spent a couple of days doing almost nothing, and, admittedly, bothering my friends.
Strangely enough, when I returned, the analysis went much more smoothly. I learned that data analysis requires not only technical competence but also a clear mind. During this stage, Dr. Bambang provided crucial technical support, while Dr. Destina provided the moral support that kept me going. Both were essential to completing my thesis.
The final challenge was writing the discussion. By then, I was honestly tired of my own research. I already knew my results, so returning to the literature felt exhausting. Yet this stage reminded me why all those months of reading had mattered. I had organized my papers by theme, renamed them so they were easier to find, highlighted them, and carefully stored them in Zotero. Suddenly, finding the literature I needed was much easier. My past overthinking self had, in a way, made my future self's work easier.
More broadly, I realized that every course I took at UIII eventually led me to this thesis. What I learned about paradigms, methodology, measurement, analysis, and interpretation became part of how I designed and conducted my own research. The high standards maintained by UIII lecturers challenged me to take research seriously and gradually gave me confidence in my own abilities.
This thesis also helped me secure a job before I even graduated from my master's degree, and for that, I am especially grateful to Dr. Destina for supporting my research idea from the very beginning.
I came to UIII with very limited research skills. I leave having conceptualized, designed, conducted, analyzed, and written my own research. Of course, I did not do it entirely alone. I was supported by lecturers, experts, friends, research assistants, and an academic environment that challenged me to do better. But the research itself became mine: an idea I developed, a study I carried out, and a thesis I wrote.
And perhaps that is what makes this journey meaningful to me. Somewhere between ten conceptual frameworks, two pilot tests, sixteen research assistants, 521 participants, repeated analyses, frustration, tears, and far too much overthinking, I realized that I had become a researcher. A junior one, still, but one nonetheless.
Two Years, One Journey: Reflection on Learning, Sacrifice, and Growth at UIII
Two Years, One Journey: Reflection on Learning, Sacrifice, and Growth at UIII
by Sheu-Tijani Aminu Opeyemi
Batch 4 MA in Education @ Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia
The completion of master’s program marks an important milestone in my academic career. From the beginning, when I received the news of my admission to Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII) on a scholarship, I felt a mixture of nervousness, curiosity, and joy for the chance to continue my academic pursuit, after having taken a break from formal study for several years. This opportunity was particularly meaningful to me as it came after several earlier, unsuccessful efforts to secure a scholarship. My nervousness stemmed from uncertainty about what to expect, how to meet the expectations of my esteemed host university, how to navigate a new environment where I would learn alongside individuals from diverse contexts and backgrounds as well as the reality of leaving family behind for two years.
Upon arriving at UIII on 31 October 2024, I was eager to start my studies, interact with new colleagues and experience Indonesia’s culturally and religiously diverse environment. One of my first notable experiences was a sightseeing trip to Jakarta planned by my newly met course mates. This experience gradually eased my initial nervousness as I began to feel the geniality, hospitality and embracing nature of the host community particularly the Indonesian people.
Beyond this sightseeing experience, my encounters with amiable lecturers in my programme of study, the administrative staff of the faculty, and the wider university community created a profound and positive impression on me. Unlike my Bachelor experience, which was largely focused on coursework; my study at UIII introduced me to a more research-oriented approach to graduate education. The lecturers devotedly guided us towards becoming academic researchers by focusing our attention on academic writing, educational principles and theories and research methodologies. From the outset, courses in research writing, Wasatiyyah, qualitative and quantitative methods, psychology and philosophy of education broadened my understanding of education and strengthened my foundation for academic inquiry.
By the time I completed my first year, I had become increasingly appreciative of the rare opportunity to learn and grow academically in such an intellectually enriched setting. I was particularly inspired by the grace to learn from highly accomplished academicians many of whom had obtained their doctoral degrees from renowned universities abroad. Their diverse expertise, perspectives, and commitment to inclusive teaching significantly enriched my learning experience. The lectures were thoughtfully structured to accommodate our diverse backgrounds, allowing us to engage in discussions and exchange ideas through the lenses of different cultures and countries of origin. This experience taught me that diversity is not merely a feature of an international university; it is itself a valuable source of learning.
At this stage, even though I did not yet consider myself a scholarly contributor, I could evidently see and appreciate how my research knowledge and skills were developing in a gradual process. I became increasingly hopeful that, with continued learning, practice, and dedication, I would eventually be able to make meaningful contributions to knowledge production. I came to appreciate this development even more as I began considering an appropriate topic for my thesis. Initially the prospect of developing and completing a thesis seemed to be a considerable challenge and a source of pressure. However, the knowledge and skills I acquired through coursework in identifying research gaps, formulating research problems, systematically reviewing the literature, and applying the right research approaches positioned me to undertake the assignment with a greater sense of confidence. Together with the additional concentration courses I undertook alongside the core courses, this training enabled me to transform what initially seemed like a daunting task into a more manageable academic endeavour.
During this period, the university also provided me and some of my colleagues with the opportunity to apply our learning through an internship program in different academic institutions. I provided administrative and academic support to senior staff, which allowed me to connect some of the knowledge gained in the classroom with practical experiences within an educational institution. The experience further broadened my understanding of how academic and administrative responsibilities work together to support the effective functioning of educational institutions.
Beyond this academic experience, my time in Indonesia has also shaped my understanding of how hospitality, dedication, commitment, and institutional responsibility can contribute to organisational and national development. Observing how different units within the university worked together to ensure its smooth functioning gave me a deeper appreciation of cooperation and collective responsibility. The relationships and my daily interactions outside the academic setting offered a worthwhile experience. Personal observations and conversations with the people of Indonesia increased my appreciation of the country and its people. In many aspects I have felt welcomed and relaxed in Indonesia, and this has made it feel more like I have come here to build relationships and create memories in a real way, than just to study for a degree programme only. I am very thankful for the opportunity to experience this part of Indonesia life; I hope my relationship with Indonesia and the people will not stop after my graduation.
The two-year journey has not been easy, however. It was tough to be away from my family, my wife and four children for so long. These experiences have helped me to appreciate the wisdom that comes from the Qur'anic Guidance regarding family and dwellings, “Askinuhunna min haythu sakantum”— “Lodge them where you dwell” (Qur'an 65:6). The experience was a reminder to me how valuable family is and how much of a sacrifice it is to pursue knowledge.
In retrospect, I thank God for His grace and strength to get through to the end. I am equally grateful to UIII, my lecturers, colleagues, and host community for creating an environment where I felt safe, welcomed and supported. I found their kindness transforming what seemed a daunting journey to one of the most important of my academic and personal growth.
A journey of a thousand miles is said to begin with a single step. My experience at UIII was a journey of uncertainty that culminated in gratitude, growth, and a redefined purpose. I am leaving this programme not only with a master’s degree but also sound research skills, intellectual depths, and strong relationships. Most importantly, I take with me my renewed dedication to put what I learned into practice for the benefit of education and society.
From a Course Assignment to Publication: My Experience with PISA 2022 Data
From a Course Assignment to Publication: My Experience with PISA 2022 Data
By Dwi Oktariani
When I entered the Graduate Seminar on Large-Scale Assessment course in the second semester of my doctoral study at the Faculty of Education, Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII), I never imagined that the final assignment from the course would lead me to a publication in a reputable international journal. The course, taught by Bambang Sumintono, Ph.D., was a continuation of Advanced Educational Assessment, which had previously started to introduce me to the world of assessment and education measurement.
My academic background is in performing arts education, especially dance. Before starting my doctoral study, most of my research and practice were closely connected to arts and communities. I teach traditional dance at Universitas Tanjungpura, work as an arts practitioner, do choreography and performances, and conduct research on indigenous communities in West Kalimantan. The research world that I knew was very close to people, movement, tradition, and cultural practices. Data involving thousands of respondents, statistical analysis, SPSS, and especially large-scale assessment felt like a world very far from me.
My more serious encounter with quantitative approaches actually began at UIII. In the assessment course, I started learning about the Rasch Model and how to use Winsteps software. I began to understand how the quality of an item is examined and how assessment can produce accountable information. This experience slowly broadened the way I viewed educational research and showed me that there were still many areas outside the field I had been working in that I needed to learn.
A more challenging journey began when PISA was introduced in the Graduate Seminar on Large-Scale Assessment course. For the midterm assignment, I critically examined large-scale assessment practices and began questioning the relatively limited position of the arts in that discussion. I then carried this interest into my final assignment. I wanted to know whether a dataset as large as PISA could actually “speak” about the arts. From this simple question, I started developing a study on gender differences in affective engagement, creativity belief through the arts, and Indonesian students’ participation in school-based arts activities using PISA 2022 data.
The process was much more difficult than I expected. I had never used SPSS before, let alone worked with large-scale secondary data. From the thousands of data available through the OECD, I chose the Indonesian data because of my own curiosity: what does PISA actually look like when we focus on Indonesian students? I started looking for the questions given to students, understanding the code for each item, identifying relevant variables, and selecting data that could be used in the study. At that stage, the more I searched, the more I felt that I did not know enough. I even visited the libraries at UPI and UNY to look for previous studies that connected PISA with arts education. However, I did not find any study that was exactly the same as what I wanted to do. I also studied the work of senior students who had used PISA data to understand how such data could be developed into an article for a Scopus-indexed journal.
The more I read, the broader the problem became, and the more difficult it was for me to keep the study focused. At the same time, the final assignment deadline was getting closer. I was tired, but stopping was not an option. In the end, I returned to something I understood best: the arts. I went through the PISA 2022 questions again and finally selected seven items related to affective engagement, creativity belief, and participation in visual arts, music, and theatre.
I also did not go through this learning process alone. My classmates became an important part of the journey. Munaya helped me a lot in learning how to do data cleaning, something that was completely new to me at the time. Mbak Nofi and Pak Umam kept encouraging me when I felt overwhelmed by the secondary data. In class, the lecturer also continued to show us different examples of academic articles that we could study as references when developing our final assignments. From this experience, I realized that learning at the doctoral level also grows through asking questions, trying, making mistakes, discussing, and helping one another.
Eventually, the final assignment was completed. The results showed that female students had higher affective engagement with the arts, while male students reported a higher frequency of participation in several school-based arts activities. For me, these findings were not only statistical results. I started to see how large-scale data could offer another perspective on issues in arts education that I had previously understood mainly through practice, observation, and field experience.
After the final grade was released, I did something that was actually quite spontaneous. I tried submitting the paper to Asian Education and Development Studies (AEDS), Emerald, a Scopus Q2 journal. I did not even make major changes. The manuscript I submitted was basically the final assignment from the course. It was also my first experience creating an Emerald account and trying the submission process to an international journal by myself.
When I received the news that the manuscript had passed the initial stage and entered the review process, I was actually confused about how I should react. I sent the review decision to the lecturer and asked what it meant because at that time I still did not fully understand how publication in a Scopus journal worked. He congratulated me and encouraged me to begin “navigating” the reviewer revisions. That phrase turned out to be quite an accurate description of what happened over almost the following year.
The review process became another learning space for me. At one stage, I was very happy when one reviewer gave a minor revision. However, in the next round, I was faced again with a major revision. The manuscript eventually went through several rounds of revision before it was accepted. Even near the end, issues related to consistency of terms, punctuation, number formatting, and proofreading still brought me back to another revision.
Part of this process took place during a very personal period in my life because I was going through childbirth. My concentration was certainly not always at its best. Strangely, however, I do not remember the revision process as an unpleasant experience. I actually enjoyed it. Every reviewer comment showed me a part of my own writing that I had not noticed before. A manuscript that I initially considered only a course assignment slowly became a much more mature piece of work.
The experience of being a single author also left its own impression on me. I handled the entire process myself, from submission, reading and responding to reviewer comments, reanalyzing the data when necessary, revising the manuscript, to communicating with the editorial team. There was freedom in it, but also full responsibility. That was exactly what made the experience enjoyable. I could directly see how my ability developed from one version of the manuscript to the next.
In the end, the article, “Gender Differences in Affective Engagement, Creativity Belief Through the Arts, and Participation in School-Based Arts Activities: Evidence from PISA 2022 Indonesia,” was accepted and published in Asian Education and Development Studies. I still love traditional dance, indigenous communities, and research that allows me to meet people directly and engage with their cultural practices. Learning about PISA and quantitative research simply gave me another way to look at arts education. I now understand that issues in the arts can be read through community stories and teachers’ experiences, but they can also be explored through thousands of student responses in an international dataset.
For this reason, I am very grateful to the lecturer, who, through the Graduate Seminar on Large-Scale Assessment course, opened a door to a research area that I had never imagined I would enter. Thank you for the publication examples, experiences, and encouragement that were always shared with us in class. I am also grateful to my classmates who became part of this learning process, especially Munaya, Mbak Nofi, and Pak Umam. This experience made me understand that a course assignment at the doctoral level does not have to end when a grade has been given. For me, perhaps this is the most valuable meaning of the journey: learning does not always make us feel more comfortable. Sometimes, learning takes us into unfamiliar territory, makes us feel many times that we do not know enough, and then slowly expands the boundaries of what we think we are capable of doing as researchers.