At the end of 2018, IT Del, as a higher education institution, was successfully accredited at grade B by the Board of National Accreditation (BAN) under the BAN PT decree No. 417/BAN-PT/Akred/PT/XII/2018 on December 19th, 2018. The accomplished score, 332 is categorized as B or a good score category. Such accomplishment has marked the institution’s official transformation from Politeknik Informatika Del in 2013 into IT Del now being recognized as a high quality institution. The high quality predicate will no doubt boost self-confidence, a motivation to immediately step in the attempts for better quality enhancement in the coming years.
The institution accreditation series of process has taken for three months precisely from uploading the institution forms to the decree issuance, which means the whole process did not take very long since the forms were submitted to SAPTO on September 21st, 2018. Furthermore, IT Del hosted a visitation as one agenda for of field assessment by three assessors from BAN PT from December 11-12, 2018, consisting of: (1) Dr. Paulus Basuki Hadi (Universitas Diponegoro), (2) Prof. Muslimin Ibrahim (Universitas Negeri Surabaya), and Dr. Amil Ahmad Yahya (Universitas Hasanuddin). The visitation took place on time during friendly and comfortable atmosphere.
Thank you remarks were addressed to the assessors who already gave their time and energy for assessing the external quality at IT Del. Also, all lecturers, educational staffs, and students in person involving in interview sessions, documentation and visitation were highly appreciated. All members of the team supported one another when giving responses to questions for clarification or verification. All required documents were quickly made available allowing the assessors to evaluate and put their comments for improvement immidiately. Also, special thanks were addressed to Ir. Patuan Simatupang, MCRP as Managing Director of Del Foundation and Ir. Partumpuan Naiborhu, MM as the Head of Del Foundation Branch North Sumatera for their coming to the visitation. Their coming surely reflected the moral support given to IT Del.
The implementation for quality assurance of IT Del not only refers to National Standard of National Education (Standar Nasional Pendidikan Nasional/SN Dikti) but also particularly to the fundamental question on “how could IT Del as a higher educational institution do self- quality assurance?” The meaning of self-quality assurance is the awareness of every member in IT Del that human resource development is based on standard operation and sustainable improvement. As the Rector of IT Del mentioned, Del spirit is the spirit to implement high educational standard in internal and verified by external.
The first submission of this higher education accreditation (AIPT) was carried out due to the passion for improvement of all components of Tridharma Perguruan Tinggi. Since the beginning, no specific target for the predicate was set except a desire to provide the best service. IT Del realizes the implementation of quality assurance should not be based on results only but on the process. The team chaired by Tiurma Lumban Gaol, S.P., M.P. accompanied by Santi Febri Arianti, S.Si.,M.Sc. as the Chair of IT Del’s Quality Assurance Unit had worked in simultaneously. Useful components were utilized for easier forms’ documenting, among them were by dashboard utilization, team cooperation, evaluation meetings and regular reports to the Head of Institution. By the work group who had been abided by the work plan, the supporting documents’ uploading and provision was able to be conducted according to the timeline target.
The visit of assessors from BAN PT also produced various feedbacks for the institution’s quality improvement in the future. Some very good feedback has been noted and resumed as follows: (i) documentation is very essential not only for fulfilling the operational procedure standard but also as documents for evaluation according to the documentation in monthly , trimester, semester and annual reports. IT Del still needs to improve its reporting system in order for the follow-ups and the results to be well recorded. (ii) It is imperative that follow-ups for reviews, surveys, and assessments be conducted in which their results should be rechecked. (iii) a review for operational plan implementation or strategic plan needs conducting every year (especially for research and community works). In 2019 IT Del is happening to design its Strategic Plan (RENSTRA) of 2020-2024 and the system use for work performance monitoring is going to be included in the implementation of Strategic Plan. (iv) IT Del needs to cover indicators for course lecture sessions in Semester Learning Plan (RPS) in the place of Learning Implementation Plan (RPP). The improvement will be carried out on Curriculum 2019. (v) The satisfactory survey no longer is carried out at one’s will but by system in order to collect data each semester or on yearly based for the improvement. In particular, only 30% of the lecturers who participates in on human service surveys. (vi) The quality improvement on the study program level should be carried out intensively to get an excellent accreditation status or A. (vii) Student creativity program improvement needs more supervising by involving lecturers and inviting students from other higher education institutions who have succeeded to win the medals in National Scientific Fair Week for Students (PIMNAS). (viii) The lecturers should be also asked to notice and adopt latest methods or technology in industry for teaching. Some methods used in IT Del have been outdated or no longer used by industry. (ix) There is a need for external audit by a public accountant for the last two years instead of five years, as the past practice. (x) There is a need for around 1.5 year good preparation by each program that will conduct reaccreditation before the end of the accreditation period.
Congratulations for IT Del and Del Foundation for such proud achievements reached by hard work at the end of 2018.
