Our Neighbour in South is 26th best the world, we only having rank 409th: The Economy Department Problem
Our Neighbour in South is 26th best the world, we only having rank 409th: The Economy Department Problem
The best Dept of Economy in Asia Pacific (Asia, Australia, NZ, Oceania) currently ANU (Australian National University), ranked 26th in the world. In order of number, NUS Singapore (35th in the world), Sydney (38), UNSW (42), UniMelb (43), Queensland (58), Monash (59), Hebrew Univ (62), University of Hong Kong (67), and Chinese University of Hong Kong (85).
The Department or Faculty of Economy University of Indonesia, in the last 6 decades cemented the throne in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank of Indonesia, facing too big a gap, only 409th globally and 60th in Asia. UGM, currently the best University in Indonesia (all studies or in general), having the 231st spot this year, for the Faculty of Economy only got 83rd in Asia and 512nd in the world, or 2nd best Economy Department in Indonesia. Surprisingly, the 3rd best Department or Faculty of Economy in Indonesia is Diponegoro University (91st in Asia, 540 in the world).
If economy departments in Indonesia don't make it much easier for undergrads to access math courses or even not added actuarial (e.g multivariable calculus, linear algebra, etc), Indonesian students will be significantly handicapped when applying for economy masters at the best institutions in the next 5-10 years. Any departments that impart quantitative methodologies in their disciplinary curricula or syllabus (actually also) must provide math courses seriously. In political science or public health departments where statistics are being taught, there's a tendency to only teach how to use tools. But amid a crumbling recession and the giant leap of AI - ChatGPT or something else, the Economy Department and math must be mandatory.
We already are handicapped, on a per capita basis we completely lag behind countries like Australia, India, China, Vietnam, Singapore / Philippines / Thai / South Korea / or even Iran and Israel in Asia - Pacific, in the number of graduate econ students at top schools (top being like top 50). And the competition is becoming increasingly intense.
This doesn't mean all econ students need to take all kinds of math courses and pursue the graduate study route. But there are many who do want to pursue this route but find the barrier to entry extremely high. It's not that difficult to reduce this barrier to entry significantly. Allowing more flexibility in the curriculum, coordinating with math departments to allow econ students to access math classes don't require substantial investments. We shouldn't underestimate what impact this may have down the line. Econ undergrads often end up in strategic government and private sector positions, as part of the Indonesian technocracy. Like I said, specifically Econ Dept University of Indonesia, 6 decades cemented the hierarchy top-down in the Ministry of Finance and Central Bank. But UI only got 60th in Asia for the Econ Department and only 409th in the world. Something gargantuan wrong here.