ANAAA Timor Leste Establishes Cooperation with LAMDIK Indonesia

Surabaya, 6 December 2023
LAMDIK (Independent Education Accreditation Institution) or the Accreditation Council for Education (ACE) Indonesia received an honorary visit from ANAAA (National Academy of Academic Accreditation (ANAAA) of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, and Culture of Timor Leste on Wednesday, December 6, 2023.

The delegation from ANAAA Timor Leste was led directly by the Executive Director of ANAAA East Leste, Dr. Nilton D. Paiva Mau. Also present from ANAAA Timor Leste in this visit and cooperation were the heads of the ANAAA divisions and secretariat team, including Ms. Fernanda Julia Silla, Mr. Julio Soares, Mr. Antonio Martins.

During his visit, Dr. Nilton D. Paiva Mau said that Timor Leste has 19 Higher Education Institutions and 149 Study Programs. The mechanism for establishing higher education institutions and opening new study programs in higher education institutions in Timor Leste, the final eligibility stage is determined by ANAAA. And, to monitor the progress and quality of new higher education institutions and new study programs that have been approved by the Government of Timor Leste, after 3 years of monitoring and development by ANAAA and reaccreditation is carried out every 5 years periodically. The result is that out of 19 higher education institutions in Timor Leste, only 2 universities have obtained an A/UNGGUL rating, the rest are still ranked B or C. Therefore, it is hoped that after working with ACE Indonesia, all higher education institutions in East Timor and their study programs will one day improve in quality, which is marked by the implementation of a quality culture and an A/UNGGUL accreditation quality rating gradually, as emphasized by the Executive Director of ANAAA Timor Leste, Dr. Nilton D. Paiva Mau.

The visit of the ANAAA delegation from the Ministry of Higher Education, Innovation, and Culture of Timor Leste was received directly by Prof. Muchlas Samani as the General Chairperson of LAMDIK/ACE and Director of Accreditation Prof. Harun Joko Prayitno, Head of Accreditation Division Prof. Eko Hariadi, Prof. Yuni Sri Rahayu as Head of Secretariat, Prof. Pratiwi, International Accreditation Division of LAMDIK, and a number of division heads and complete LAMDIK staff. In his speech, Prof. Muchlas Samani emphasized the importance of the input-process-output-outcome quality culture in the study program management unit and in universities. In this meeting, the General Chairperson of LAMDIK/ACE also conveyed that as a leading and trusted national-international quality assurance institution, LAMDIK’s vision is to be an Independent Educational Accreditation Institution that is trusted by the community, government and obtains national and international recognition. Also conveyed were the establishment process and profile of LAMDIK, assessor quality assurance, IT-based systems, accreditation processes up to the determination of accreditation rankings, study program monitoring, study program development, etc. This is an important part for LAMDIK as one of the international quality assurance that will start accrediting in Uzbekistan, Armenia, and later in Timor Leste.

Both, ANAAA Timor Leste-ACE Indonesia, agreed to develop and improve the quality of higher education study programs. Especially higher education study programs and other cooperation in the field of instrument development and quality assurance, IT system development, and other strategic developments, such as joint accreditation ACE-ANAAA accrediting several education study programs in Timor Leste. In the near future, this cooperation will be covered by an MoU between ANAAA-ACE, one of which is that ACE is given the trust to accredit education study programs at several universities in Timor Leste in June-October 2024. Before the accreditation process is carried out by LAMDIK for education study programs in June 2024 at several universities in Timor Leste. LAMDIK was given the opportunity to provide assistance in curriculum development, research, community service, and publication in a number of educational study programs starting from January-February 2024.