From public to semi-private: Organizational capital readiness in Indonesian higher education governance transformation

Abstract

The transformation of Indonesian State Universities (PTN) into State University Private-Legal-Entities (PTNBH) represents a fundamental shift toward hybrid governance models that balance institutional autonomy with public accountability. Despite implementation across 24 institutions, systematic research examining organizational readiness for this complex transformation has been notably absent. This study examines organizational readiness for PTNBH governance transformation using a newly developed framework and assesses the appropriateness of different governance paradigms for hybrid educational institutions. It employed a mixed-methods comparative case study design across five PTNBH (State University with legal Private Entity) representing different institutional types (comprehensive universities, technological institutes, specialized universities). Data collection involved 85 participants through the MPFAAC Readiness Scale (30 items across six dimensions), semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and institutional observations. The MPFAAC framework assesses Meaning, Positioning, Functioning, Authorizing, Actuating, and Controlling dimensions of organizational readiness. The study found that institutions demonstrated insufficient readiness for autonomous governance, while dimensional analysis revealed significant variations, with Positioning showing the highest readiness. Actuating and Controlling dimensions exhibited critical deficiencies. Technological institutes demonstrated significantly higher readiness than comprehensive universities. These findings show that New Public Service principles support New Public Management to advance educational governance, and imply that policymakers are encouraged to establish PTNBH excellence centers for better practice exchange and improved coordination between education and finance departments on tax complexity issues, in particular.