Analysis of Lecturers' and Students' Perceptions of Teaching Practitioner Programs in Higher Education

: The splendor of Freedom of Learning in the educational environment and Indonesian society is visible, among the various programs there is one program that is relevant to students and industry, namely the Teaching Practitioner program. This research aims to analyze the perceptions of lecturers and students regarding implementing the Teaching Practitioner Program in Higher Education in the city of Makassar. Students, as the nation's successors who are expected to be agents of change, are required to have the ability to compete in the world of work in the future. The research method used is quantitative descriptive with a random sampling technique based on cluster areas, to select lecturers and students who have participated in the program. Of the 200 questionnaires distributed, 150 respondents responded, consisting of 25 lecturers and 125 students. The research results show that the Teaching Practitioner Program at Makassar City University has positive aspects in improving the quality of learning for students and graduates, reducing the potential for unemployment, providing a dynamic learning experience, encouraging collaboration with industry, and ensuring the suitability of competencies to the needs of the world of work. This research contributes to understanding the importance of integrating education and the world of work through the Teaching Practitioner Program in higher education.


Introduction
Science and technology continue to develop rapidly, requiring every individual to continue to enrich and expand their abilities and to be able to adapt to increasingly advanced changes in the times.Future generations need skills readiness to face the Big Data Era, thus encouraging the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Education and Culture, to improve the quality of Human Resources (Baharuddin, 2021).Students, as the nation's successors who are expected to be agents of change, are required to have the ability to compete in the world of work in the future.The government itself always strives to advance and find the right solutions to improve the education system and job market.This aims to enable students to face the world of work with skills that are relevant and in line with industry needs (Meke et al., 2021).The Minister of Education and Culture has issued the Independent Campus policy, which is an initiative that gives students the freedom to study for three semesters outside their main study program.This policy is based on several regulations and legal foundations for higher education which aim to improve the quality of learning and higher education graduates.Independent Campus is an innovative idea that provides opportunities for students to have independence in the learning process at higher education institutions (Riadi et al., 2023).This idea is a development of the previous Independent Learning concept, the development of the Independent Campus concept aims to produce quality teaching (Perdima et al., 2024).Since the introduction of the Independent Learning-Independent Campus (MBKM) policy in 2020 by the Minister of Education and Culture, Universities, both public and private, have made significant changes to the curriculum and created innovative learning environments to advance student achievement (Naz & Murad, 2017).The main goal is to ensure that learning outcomes, including attitudes, knowledge, and skills, can be achieved optimally and remain relevant (Elihami & Melbourne, 2022).This effort is made to prepare students to face changes in society, culture, the world of work, and rapid technological advances so that university graduates in Indonesia have skills in both soft skills and hard skills that are in line with industry needs and to face rapid changes (Ishak, 2021).
Challenge predictions from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) show that in 2030, Indonesia will be faced with the problem of a shortage of workers who have education and skills, but an excess of workers who do not have certain qualifications.The mismatch between the need and availability of an educated workforce is also highlighted by (Cabus & Somers, 2018)) which notes that more than half of the workforce has educational qualifications and skills that do not meet standards.This condition is increasingly urgent to be addressed, especially considering the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community and other regional agreements at the global level (Caballero-Anthony, 2022).A shortage in the supply of educated and skilled labor could lead to an increase in the use of labor from abroad.Therefore, close collaboration between universities, the business world, and industry at both national and international levels is very important to overcome this (Handayani, 2015).
Science and technology continue to develop rapidly, requiring every individual to continue to enrich and expand their abilities and to be able to adapt to increasingly advanced changes in the times.Future generations need skills readiness to face the Big Data Era, thus encouraging the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Education and Culture, to improve the quality of Human Resources (Anatan & Nur, 2023).Students, as the nation's successors who are expected to be agents of change, are required to have the ability to compete in the world of work in the future.The government itself always strives to advance and find the right solutions to improve the education system and job market.This aims to enable students to face the world of work with skills that are relevant and in line with industry needs (Cheng et al., 2022).The Minister of Education and Culture has issued the Independent Campus policy, which is an initiative that gives students the freedom to study for three semesters outside their main study program.This policy is based on several regulations and legal foundations for higher education which aim to improve the quality of learning and higher education graduates (Darling-Hammond et al., 2020).Independent Campus is an innovative idea that provides opportunities for students to have independence in the learning process at higher education institutions (Coman et al., 2020).
This idea is a development of the previous Independent Learning concept, the development of the Independent Campus concept aims to produce quality teaching (Loeng, 2020).Since the introduction of the Independent Learning-Independent Campus (MBKM) policy in 2020 by the Minister of Education and Culture, Universities, both public and private, have made significant changes to the curriculum and created innovative learning environments to advance student achievement (Kinshuk et al., 2016).The main goal is to ensure that learning outcomes, including attitudes, knowledge, and skills, can be achieved optimally and remain relevant (Elihami & Melbourne, 2022).This effort is made to prepare students to face changes in society, culture, the world of work, and rapid technological advances so that university graduates in Indonesia have skills in both soft skills and hard skills that are in line with industry needs and to face rapid changes (Ra et al., 2019).
Challenge predictions from the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) show that in 2030, Indonesia will be faced with the problem of a shortage of workers who have education and skills, but an excess of workers who do not have certain qualifications.The mismatch between the need and availability of an educated workforce is also highlighted by ILO data (2015) which notes that more than half of the workforce has educational qualifications and skills that do not meet standards.This condition is increasingly urgent to be addressed, especially considering the implementation of the ASEAN Economic Community and other regional agreements at the global level.A shortage in the supply of educated and skilled labor could lead to an increase in the use of labor from abroad.Therefore, close collaboration between universities, the business world, and industry at both national and international levels is very important to overcome this problem.

Method
Practitioners teach at Makassar City universities, as it is known that Makassar is the center of educational destinations in eastern Indonesia, which will later provide a mapping of the perceptions of lecturers and students as a whole regarding the implementation of this program.This research is descriptive quantitative research with data collection using questionnaires and observation (Jilcha Sileyew, 2020).This is because the researcher wants to describe the facts, characteristics, and perceptions of lecturers and students related to the teaching practitioner program.The sampling technique uses purposive sampling, with the criteria of several lecturers and students representing both state and private universities, namely Universitas Negri Makassar, Bosowa University, and STIM Lasharan Jaya which have run teaching practitioner programs.Random sampling was used based on cluster areas, to randomly select lecturers and students who had also participated in the program.Of the 200 questionnaires distributed, 150 respondents returned them.Consists of 25 lecturers of which the remaining 125 are students.
The research instrument used was a questionnaire (a list of questions and statements) which was answered by lecturers and students.This questionnaire has been refined because before it was used as a data collection instrument, interviews were conducted with several lecturers to assess the language in the statements in the questionnaire so as not to give rise to misperceptions.The scale applied in this questionnaire follows the Likert scale model, namely: Strongly Agree (SS), Agree (S), Disagree (TS), and Strongly Disagree (STS).The Neutral Scale (N) was omitted in preparing the questionnaire to avoid the possibility of students choosing this option.This questionnaire was also created to include positive and negative statements.The analytical method that will be used in this research is descriptive analysis.According to (Alfikalia et al., 2022), the first step is to assess the answers of the respondents by referring to the predetermined scores, as listed in Table 1.Next, the total scores from the answers given by each respondent are added up.After that, the totaled scores will be entered into the formula mentioned previously.

Result and Discussion
This teaching practitioner program consists of five indicators derived from the second-generation guidebook, (Directorate Teaching Practitioner Program, 2023), where these indicators consist of the quality of tertiary graduates, reduced potential for educated unemployment from tertiary graduates, a more dynamic learning experience, competitive, collaborative and participatory, Collaboration between universities and industry, Relevance of student competencies according to the needs of the world of work.Based on the results of distributing questionnaires, the results of the implementation of the teaching practitioner program were obtained as follows:  1, it can be seen that the implementation of the teaching practitioner program, according to the perceptions of the lecturers, is reviewed based on indicators of the quality of college graduates.The evaluation results show that 75.20% of these indicators are in the good category.In addition, there was a decrease in the potential for unemployment among college graduates, with 75.4% in the good category.The learning experience also experienced positive changes, becoming more dynamic, competitive, collaborative, and participatory, reaching 83.6% in the good category.Collaboration between universities and industry was rated positively at 77.20% in the good category.Apart from that, the relevance of student competencies to the needs of the world of work also received a good rating of 73%.Based on Table 2, it can be seen that the implementation of the teaching practitioner program, based on student perceptions, is assessed by considering indicators of the quality of college graduates.The assessment results show that 81.04% of these indicators are in the good category.In addition, there was a decrease in potential unemployment among college graduates, with 79.4% in the good category.The learning experience also experienced positive changes, becoming more dynamic, competitive, collaborative, and participatory, reaching 85.72% in the very good category.Collaboration between universities and industry was rated good at 81.2%.Apart from that, the relevance of student competencies to the needs of the world of work was also assessed as good at 78.3%.Teaching Practitioners is a program initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture to encourage active collaboration between expert practitioners and lecturers in courses delivered in class.This program, which was launched in 2022, is one of the flagship programs in the Independent Learning Campus (MBKM) policy.Teaching Practitioner activities are intended to bridge the gap between higher education and the world of work and industry.In practice, this activity allows courses to be designed and managed jointly by lecturers and practitioners.From the results of the perceptions of lecturers and students, this program overall is going well, but there are still several gaps that should be maximized.
The problem identified in this research is that this practitioner program has not had a significant impact on students.This is because practitioners come as individuals, not representing an institution or agency.As a result, they cannot provide opportunities for students or graduates.This is different if practitioners come to represent institutions or agencies, where they can facilitate practical activities such as internships or open up job opportunities for graduates.This is also reinforced by previous findings where the implementation of the MBKM learning program has not run optimally (Wahyuningtyas et al., 2022).
Based on the findings above, the perceptions of lecturers and students regarding the teaching practitioner program can provide the use of more practical, realistic, and relevant learning methods implemented by practitioners by the demands of the world of work, thereby encouraging students to understand and apply knowledge in real contexts after graduating.from college.Implementing independent learning is very effective in improving cognitive skills, including creativity and critical thinking abilities, as well as metacognitive aspects that reflect the entire learning process.Can have a positive influence on affective aspects, especially motivation to adapt (Burgers et al., 2015).By (Kodrat, 2021) achieving these standards, this program indicates that students have experienced significant development and acquired practical skills during their studies, students need to gain additional competencies in facing the ever-changing dynamics in the world of work.The teaching practitioner program has designed an approach that focuses on preparing graduates with higher competencies and more suited to job demands.
The importance of this focus on reducing potential unemployment reflects the responsive response of teaching practitioner programs to changes in the economy and labor market demands (Dwivedi et al., 2023).This also indicates an awareness that the success of graduates is not only measured by their academic level but also by their readiness to handle the challenges of the diverse world of work.This enhanced learning experience is reflected through dynamic, competitive, collaborative, and participatory aspects.A more dynamic learning experience is realized through a learning approach that focuses on real situations and world challenges (Jaenal Mustopa & Hidayat, 2020).Students are encouraged to engage in activities that simulate work situations so they can hone critical thinking skills, adaptation to change, and complex problem-solving.
The competitiveness of the learning experience shows that this program encourages students to achieve their best performance (Wang & Tahir, 2020).Healthy competition can motivate students to try harder and continue to innovate in meeting learning demands.Interaction between fellow students and lecturers, students are invited to interact, discuss, and collaborate in solving problems or exploring complex concepts.This helps build collaboration skills and the ability to work in teams, which are important competencies in the world of work.By (Meyyana Andriyani et al., 2022) embracing a more interactive approach and presenting material contextually and varied, students will be more involved in the learning process and feel more connected to what they are learning.In line with research conducted by (Kamalia & Andriansyah, 2021), where the results of the research say that students can easily understand learning material through discussion and communication between lecturers with the MBKM program (Jamilah et al., 2023).This has a positive impact on understanding, skill development, and readiness to face real challenges after graduation.

Conclusion
Based on the research results that have been described, it can be concluded that the teaching practitioner program at universities in the city of Makassar has several positive aspects, based on the perceptions of lecturers and students in improving the quality of learning, so that it is hoped that it will be able to reduce the potential for unemployment among students after they graduate from college, this program can provide a dynamic learning experience.Universities can collaborate with industry and ensure the relevance of competencies to the needs of the world of work.This is in line with the objectives of the teaching practitioner program.Reducing the potential for educated unemployment is the main focus of this program, with a commitment to facing dynamic changes in the world of work and preparing graduates with higher, comprehensive, relevant, and adaptive competencies for changes occurring in the world of work.Practitioner teaching programs should continue to conduct evaluations to identify areas for improvement.
Continuous development based on feedback from students, faculty, and industry will help this program remain adaptive and responsive to change.By linking universities with industry through the teaching practitioner program, it is hoped that this program will be more active in providing internship and work placement opportunities for students.This step will help students apply their knowledge and skills directly in a work context.In collaboration with industry, this program must routinely identify developing needs in the world of work.So that universities can modify the curriculum so that graduates remain relevant and competent.Universities need to monitor alumni to track alumni performance after graduating, to find out how well the program prepares them for the world of work.Feedback from alumni can help guide future program improvements.
of values obtained N = number of ideal values Then the results obtained are entered

Table 1 .
Interpretation of Questionnaire Results

Table 2 .
Lecturers' Perceptions of the Teaching Practitioner Program

Table 3 .
Student Perceptions of the Teaching Practitioner Program