Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions

UNESA has elected representation on its highest governing body

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) ensures inclusive and participatory governance through the formal inclusion of elected representatives from lecturers, administrative staff, and students in its highest decision-making bodies. This structure reflects UNESA’s commitment to transparency, accountability, and shared governance in alignment with SDG 16, promoting peace, justice, and strong institutions.

At the institutional level, the University Board of Trustees (Majelis Wali Amanat, MWA) serves as the highest governing body. Its composition includes representatives from the academic community, ensuring that lecturers and staff have an active voice in strategic decision-making processes. UNESA’s student representative on the Board of Trustees is linked to a democratic student electoral process, namely the Pemilihan Raya Mahasiswa (Pemira), the university’s student-wide election for student representative leadership. Through this process, students participate in selecting their student leadership, including the Chairperson of the Student Executive Board (Badan Eksekutif Mahasiswa, BEM). The resulting mandate provides the democratic basis for the BEM Chairperson’s representation in the Board of Trustees, in accordance with the applicable institutional regulations.

This arrangement demonstrates UNESA’s commitment to participatory and inclusive university governance. By providing a formal seat for student representation and grounding that representation in a democratic electoral process, UNESA enables students to contribute to institutional deliberations and decision-making through an established governance mechanism. It also provides an institutional channel through which student perspectives can be conveyed in discussions concerning university policies, strategic priorities, and the broader interests of the university community. The composition and mandate of the MWA are formally regulated under the Decree on the Appointment of Members of the University Board of Trustees (2022-2027 Period).

In addition, the University Senate (Senat Akademik Universitas) functions as a collegial body that represents the academic community in policy formulation, academic oversight, and governance. Its members are appointed through an institutional decree that reflects academic representation from various faculties and units within UNESA.

Student participation is also guaranteed through the formal recognition of student organizations (Ormawa). The leadership of these organizations is democratically elected and inaugurated by the Rector, marking an official transfer of responsibilities from one student administration to the next. This annual process demonstrates the continuity of student representation and engagement in the university’s governance ecosystem.

Through these representative mechanisms, UNESA upholds an institutional culture that values inclusivity and participatory decision-making. The active involvement of lecturers, staff, and students in governance not only strengthens institutional accountability but also ensures that diverse perspectives inform the university’s policies and strategic directions.

Policy basis

Legal basis used is Government Regulation No. 37 of 2022 concerning Universitas Negeri Surabaya as a Legal Entity State University (PTN-BH)

Pasal 1 angka 3

Pasal 31

Further evidence

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) has elected faculty representation on its highest governing body, the Board of Trustees (Majelis Wali Amanat, MWA): under its statute, Government Regulation (Peraturan Pemerintah) Number 37 of 2022, the chair of the University Academic Senate (Senat Akademik Universitas, SAU) sits on the MWA, and that chair is elected from and by the Senate's members, whose lecturer representatives are themselves elected by each faculty senate (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022). This reads the Senate chair as an office holder of a representative body with its own democratic process.

Policy basis

Pasal 31 ayat (1)

Pasal 60 ayat (5)

Pasal 61 ayat (3)

Pasal 33 ayat (1)

Faculty

Universitas Negeri Surabaya (UNESA) gives its highest governing body a member chosen through elections among its lecturers. The UNESA statute, Government Regulation Number 37 of 2022 set on 20 October 2022, makes the Board of Trustees (MWA) the organ that sets UNESA's policies, approves its strategic plan and budget, appoints the Rector and takes the final decision on matters the Rector or the Academic Senate cannot resolve (Articles 1(3), 28(1) and 29(2)). The MWA has 17 members with equal votes, among them the chair of the University Academic Senate (SAU) (Articles 31(1)(c) and 33(1)) (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022).

UNESA's lecturers elect the Senate that chooses this member. Each faculty sends three lecturer representatives to the SAU, elected by the faculty's own senate (Senat Akademik Fakultas) in a plenary meeting; the SAU chair must be one of these lecturer representatives and is elected from and by the SAU's members (Articles 60(1)(f), 60(5), 61(2) and 61(3)) (Pemerintah Republik Indonesia, 2022). The current chair, Prof. Dr. H. Setya Yuwana, M.A., sits on the MWA for the 2022 to 2027 term (Majelis Wali Amanat, 2026).

UNESA's MWA used these votes in 2025. On 2 May 2025 the MWA approved UNESA's Strategic Plan for 2025 to 2029 after a joint meeting with the Rector on 17 April 2025 (Majelis Wali Amanat, 2025a), and on 13 August 2025 it issued Regulation Number 02 of 2025 on appointing and dismissing its members, after a joint meeting of the MWA, the SAU and the ministry's legal bureau (Majelis Wali Amanat, 2025b).

Universitas Negeri Surabaya has regulated the establishment and registration procedures for student organizations through Rector Regulation No. 58 of 2022 on Procedures for Forming and Registering Student Organisations and Activities, set on 12 December 2022. Article 8 states that the forms of student organisation at UNESA are the Student Consultative Assembly (MPM), the University Student Executive Board (BEM-U) and University Student Activity Units (UKM Universitas). Article 56 paragraph (1) states that the chair and vice chair of each student organisation are elected through a simultaneous general election (Pemira) at department or study programme, faculty and university level, using an e-voting system whose mechanism is set by the students, provided it does not conflict with UNESA's regulations and procedures (Universitas Negeri Surabaya, 2022).