Characters Values Identification and Its Implementation in

Universitas Syiah Kuala

Sofia

1,3

, Marty Mawarpury

2,3

, Sulastri

, Iskandar Abdul Samad

, T. Muttaqien Mansur

Faculty of Medicine , Syiah Kuala University

Psychology Study Program , Faculty of Medicine, Syiah Kuala University

Center of Education Development, Institute for Educational Development and Quality Assurance, Syiah Kuala University

Teacher Training and Education Faculty, Syiah Kuala University

Faculty of Law, Syiah Kuala University

iskandar.abdul.samad@unsyiah.ac.id , tmuttaqien@unsyiah.ac.id

Keywords: Character Values, Human resources, Implementation, Universitas Syiah Kuala.

Abstract: Character and scientific competences play important roles in one's success. Universitas Syiah Kuala

(Unsyiah) as a higher education institution has a major challenge for preparing students to face challenges in

the era of 4.0. One of the strategies used to strengthen the character of students and academia. The study is

to find out the character values and strata that will be implemented at Unsyiah. This study applies a

qualitative approach over two phases. The first phase, it begins with an analysis of the internal conditions

and strategies that have been implemented by Unsyiah. Secondly, it identifies the characters required to face

future challenges. Data collection was carried out through focus group discussion activities employed 40 of

participants that consist of lecturers, education staff, and students as well as leaders from various faculties

and work units at Unsyiah. In this study, the analysis is used to process obtained data. The result of this

study found that there are five play values that require to be implemented at Unsyiah, namely universal,

religious, ethical, independent, and social values. These values can be implemented through intra and extra-

curricular activities at the university, faculty and study programs as well as work units and research centers.

The design of character values can be implemented by following standard operational procedures and

character manuals at Unsyiah.

1 INTRODUCTION

Preparing graduates to have the skills required in the

21st century is the thing pursued by universities

including the Universitas Syiah Kuala (Unsyiah).

Unsyiah is one of universities in Indonesia that is

accredited by the value of A, would have to carry

out the programs planned, well structured,

systematic and sustainable way to produce students

to enable to compete in the global world in

accordance with the vision of the university is ,

namely "Being a university that is innovative,

independent, and prominent in Southeast Asia, in the

fields of education, research and community

service".

The efforts referred to have been carried out as

reported by Wahyuniati, et al (2016) and currently

these efforts are still continuing. The paradigm of

lecture is oriented on the fulfillment of competence

in the realm of cognitive is not enough

(www.weforum.org: Insight Report Economic

Forum, 2018). The world of work today requires

various soft skills and good characters. Therefore

Unsyiah needs to identify the soft skills and

character values that need to be strengthened among

students through academic activities on intra-

curricular, co-curricular and extra-curricular

activities.

Unsyiah's efforts to improve student soft skills

through intra-curricular activities have been carried

out continuously at general education units (MKWU

lectures) through the general education program

since 2016. The program aims to improve critical

thinking, soft skills and value through lectures. This

program takes place through the Directorate General

of Learning and Students Affairs, Ministry of

Research, Technology, and higher Education

program (Malik, 2018). Strengthening the

implementation of soft skills and character is also

Soﬁa, ., Mawarpury, M., Sulastri, ., Samad, I. and Mansur, T.

Characters Values Identiﬁcation and Its Implementation in Universitas Syiah Kuala.

DOI: 10.5220/0009441102130216

In Proceedings of the 1st International Conference on Psychology (ICPsy 2019), pages 213-216

ISBN: 978-989-758-448-0

213

run in all faculties, study programs, other curricular

activities and in an academic setting environment

within Unsyiah. For the mapping soft skills, values

priority character that will be implemented, and an

evaluation and monitoring of its implementation is

required to be conducted. To succeed Unsyiah’s

efforts in implementing soft skills and characters for

student it is needed to study the design of character’s

values that will be implemented at Unsyiah.

2 RESEARCH METHOD

This study applies a qualitative approach over two

phases. The first phase, it begins with the analysis of

the internal conditions and strategies that have been

implemented by Unsyiah and secondly, it identifies

the characters required to face future challenges.

Data collection was carried out through focus

group discussion activities which employed 40

participants, which consists of lecturers, education

staffs, and students as well as leaders from various

faculties and work units in Unsyiah. The selection of

respondents is based on contributions that can be

given to students, acting as managers of education

units and policy makers for programs involving

students. Criterias for respondents were: 1) policy

makers at the university, faculty, study program,

technical implementation units and student

organizations, 2) intensively involved in character

development activities, 3) lecturers and students as

an actor in the development of character.

The data which were obtained from this study is

analyzed thematically. It focuses on the process of

identifying patterns or themes within qualitative

data. Braun & Clarke (2006) suggest that unlike

many qualitative methodologies, it is not tied to an

epistemological particular or theoretical perspective.

The goal of a thematic analysis is to identify themes,

such as the patterns in the data that are important or

interesting, and reviews these themes to address the

research or something about an issue. Braun &

Clarke (2006) provide a six-phase guide which is

very useful for conducting this kind of analysis. The

steps are, 1) become familiar with the data, 2)

generate initial codes, 3) search for themes, 4)

review themes, 5) define themes, and 6) write-up.

3 RESULT

The research found that there are five main values

that need to be implemented at Unsyiah, namely 1)

universal, 2) religious, 3) ethical, 4) independent,

and 5) social values. Among the five values, there

are a number of characters that need to be developed

by Unsyiah. Values and characters can be seen on

Table 1 as follow:

Table 1: Priority values and characters of Universitas

Syiah Kuala students (priority values and characters listed

are not in order).

Values Characters Competences/

Indicators

Religious

 honesty

 pious

 sincere

 trustful

 be fair

 patience

 equality

Empathy, helping

others selflessly,

actualizing the truth,

being trustworthy,

impartial and not

double standard, able

to accept conditions in

various situations

Ethics

 politeness

 responsible

 communicative

/ polite speech

 orderly

(queuing)

 Behavior

toward others

in everyday life

Able to apply manners

according to

conditions, able to

carry out tasks

according to function

Independent

Innovative

 hardwork

 professional

 resilient

 discipline

Critical thinking,

problem solver (able

to answer existing

problems), leadership,

entrepreneurship,

creative, able to give

birth to new ideas,

have the spirit and

enthusiasm in work,

be able to work in

accordance with the

field of expertise,

stand the test in facing

life's challenges

Social

 concern for the

community and

the

environment

(example:

disposing of

garbage in its

place, social

activities),

maintaining

cleanliness

Empathy, sympathy,

collaboration, being

able to accept the

opinions of others,

being able to speak

and express opinions,

be knighted and love

the country, able to

accept differences,

sense of belonging

(public facilities)

ICPsy 2019 - International Conference on Psychology

214

(toilets), saving

water

 mutual respect

 communicative

 wise

 power struggle

 tolerant

 love and

affection

 networking/

friendship

Universal

values

Honest, disciplined, law-abiding,

responsible, sensitive, caring, fair, caring

for the environment

The process of development and monitoring of the

value and character of students at Unsyiah need to

involve entire academic community. In the

evaluation phase, this needs to be conducted to

ensure the achievement of the implementation of the

values and the character. These values can be

implemented through intra-and extra-curricular

activities at the university, faculty and study

programs as well as work units and research centers.

The entire activities of the students who were in the

program of unit activity of students (UKM) were

monitored and coordinated by the bureau of student

and work units. The results from the activities will

be reported to the Rector and the Institute of

Development of Education and Assurance Quality

(LP3M) to assure implementation of the values and

characters. The implementation of the developed

values and characters of Unsyiah students can be

seen in Figure 1.

Figure 2: Flowchart of values and characters

implementation for students of Universitas Syiah Kuala.

In practice, the implemented value and character

of students need to be conducted through the letter

of instruction issued by the leaders of the university

and socialized at the level of faculty, work units,

bureaus, students’ center, lecturer, and

administration staff. All of these phases need to

work collaboratively with the LP3M of Unsyiah.

4 DISCUSSION

The formulation of Unsyiah student character values

is done through direct observation and assessment of

the values that exist in the student's self, both from

the emergence of consciousness and from the

encouragement or the influence of the environment.

The formulation is carried out in a planned manner

and the role of educational media and the learning

process is very strategic.

In general, character development is divided into

three stages, namely planning, implementation, and

evaluation of results. At the planning stage a

character set that was excavated, crystallized, and

formulated using various sources, including (1)

philosophical considerations: Pancasila, the 1945

Constitution, and Law No. 20 of 2003 along with its

derivative provisions; (2) theoretical: theories about

the brain, psychology, education, values and morals,

and socio-cultural; (3) empirical: in the form of

experience and best practices, including lecturers,

education staff, public figures. At the

implementation stage, the developed learning

experiences and learning processes were led to

character formation in students.

Strategy formulation is done through direct

interaction atmosphere of teaching and learning

which are designed to achieve the objectives

character formulation by applying structured

activities. Furthermore, habits that allow students in

their academic environment, in their homes, in their

communities to get used to behaving according to

values and become characters who have been

internalized and personalized from and through the

intervention process. The process of civilization and

empowerment which includes giving examples,

learning, habitual, and strengthening must be

developed systemically, holistically and

dynamically.

In the academic, the implementation of the

values and character can be applied through a

method of learning strategy such as inquiry learning,

discovery learning, problem solving learning,

research-oriented learning. Stages that is doing by

lecturers might be began with identifying the

problem, the discussion on a topic that has been set,

and the assignment of individual and group (

Characters Values Identiﬁcation and Its Implementation in Universitas Syiah Kuala

215

Budimansyah, 2012). Through the activities of

extracurricular, student belonging to the group

interests and talents are selected which are available

in universities. Guidance on the form and

competence that is generated from a credible form in

outer space study is conducted together with

lecturers and bureaus of student. Students participate

actively in local, national and regional events to

increase the sense of high competition and are also

involved in the meetings widely with parties outside

campus.

Students’ characters that have been formed must

be implemented on the behavior of the students. To

measure the suitability between the behavior and the

character being implemented, it is necessary to do a

monitoring and evaluation process. The process of

monitoring and evaluation involve multiple parties

as key informants to give the assessment of the

character and behavior of students. Parties who are

involved in the process of monitoring and evaluation

can be grouped as follows:

 Study Program Level. Parties who are involved

at the level of Program Study were the head of

study program, quality assurance members, the

academic staffs, faculty trustee organization of

student and peer/friend of the same age.

 Faculty. At the level of the Faculty, the

process of monitoring and evaluation of the

development of the character of the students

will engage the leaders of the faculty and the

organization of student affairs.

 University. At the University level, the

monitoring and evaluation process will involve

university leaders and student organizations.

The character development of Unsyiah students

through academic and non-academic activities

requires a process of monitoring and evaluation

within the set time frame. The process of monitoring

and evaluation that will be carried out must be

measurable in the achievement of the program

development character.

5 CONCLUSION

In formulating values and characters involving

various perspectives, such as the academic and non-

academic conditions and conditions of a university.

The values and characters that are prioritized will be

implemented systematiccally, coordinated and

structured. The implementation of student values

and characters also required to be monitored and

evaluated so that characters can be formed according

to the university's vision and mission.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

Institute for Education Development And Quality

Assurance, Universitas Syiah Kuala, experts of

character development of Unsyiah

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