EDUKASIA ISLAMIKA Jurnal Pendidikan Islam Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students’ Interests in Islamic Higher Education

This study aims to map and analyze students’ interests before and after study program accreditation, the effect of accreditation grade, and attempt to increase the value of accreditation. This study employed a mixed-methods approach with a sample of 218 participants for quantitative data and ten informants for qualitative data. The data were collected by using interviews, focus group discussion, observation, and questionnaires. To analyze the data, triangulation is performed to display the frequency distribution, and simple regression analysis is also carried out to find the data related to the effect of the accreditation. Study results expose that firstly, there was a significant improvement in the students’ interest after study program accreditation with an average of 87.5%. Secondly, the accreditation grade gave a positive and significant effect on students’ interest in choosing study programs at a public Islamic university in West Papua, Indonesia. Lastly, there were several endeavors taken into account to increase accreditation score, i.e. synergizing an integrated internal quality assurance system, having an acceleration program for students’ length of study, digitizing students’ admission system, enhancing digital-based learning models, and increasing lecturers’ competence in academic writing, community service, and publication. The present study suggests that the quality of study program accreditation should be a pivotal concern in organizing Islamic higher education.


INTRODUCTION
Quality is the primary concern in organizing higher education. Quality education will be reflected in the management and output produced. As recipients of educational services, the public can, of course, assess the quality of the services provided. In the context of service accountability to the public, the higher education quality assurance center internally controls the service quality. In the case of internal quality evaluation, some attempts need to be done such as by having an external quality assurance agency that can provide an accountable and well-executed study program accreditation assessment (Yudiawan, 2019; the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education (BAN-PT), 2008).
The certainty of service can generally be measured from the accreditation of the study program. The better the accreditation grade, the better the services and outputs produced. One of the objectives of program accreditation is to guarantee education services according to the government's quality standards. Thus, the community can be protected with the right to get a decent and quality education (BAN-PT, 2019).
Focusing on the community's needs for education is the responsibility of the higher education institution as the organizer of higher education. In a government regulation, it is stated that every education unit is obliged to ensure the quality of education (Government Regulation No. 19/2005 on the National Standards of Education). Here, the study program's quality is the totality of the conditions and characteristics of the input, process, and products organized. Quality parameters are determined based on 226 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10.28918/jei.v5i2.2805 seven accreditation standards issued by the National Accreditation Board for Higher Education (BAN-PT). The accreditation standards referred to include Standard 1 covering the Vision, Mission, Goals and Targets, as well as Achievement Strategies; Standard 2: Governance, Leadership, Management System, and Quality Assurance; Standard 3: Students and Graduates; Standard 4: Human resources; Standard 5: Curriculum, Learning, and Academic Atmosphere; Standard 6: Finance, Facilities and Infrastructure, and Information Systems; and Standard 7 covers: Research, Community Service, and Cooperation, (BAN-PT, 2008).
It is increasingly clear that Islamic higher education needs to provide majors and study program choices following the community and students' needs. It also happens in having study program accreditation, which also provides legal certainty and the quality of the programs offered. Therefore, it needs to be an essential concern in organizing the study program. It is undeniable that today's world of work is increasingly observant and selective in accepting recruiting employees. Accreditation standards and how the study program can guarantee job opportunities for the alumni become parameters that must be kept in increasing students' interest, (Anggraeni, 2016;Pratami, 2016).
As an illustration, the public Islamic higher education institution in West Papua, Indonesia currently has three departments, i.e. Tarbiyah, Da'wah, and Sharia, for accredited undergraduate levels (Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education, 2019). From 7 (seven) study programs available, the accreditation grade of the 5 study programs are B, and the remaining two programs are C (BAN-PT, 2019).
The phenomenon in early 2019 found a polarization of the number of new students registering for the 2018/2019 academic year. Tarbiyah, which has become the favorite study program, has decreased this year and has switched to less prioritized study programs, for example, Da'wah and Communication (Syahrul, Latif, Rusdin, Bunyamin, Chudzaifah, 2019). There is a decreasing trend in the number of students in study programs that are accredited C. For example, the English department accredited in C has decreased up to 38%, and PGMI accredited C has reduced up to 50% compared to the previous year. However, other study programs have increased up to 161% in the Islamic Broadcasting Communication (KPI) accredited B (Saibu, 2019).The initial hypothesis of this phenomenon is that students' interest is influenced by the study program accreditation. 227 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10.28918/jei.v5i2.2805 In his book, Djaali says that interest tends towards someone's heart desire towards something (Djaali, 2013). Meanwhile, it can be someone's psychological aspect and create a feeling of being attracted to something (Slameto, 2010) as well as influence others' actions (Djamarah, 2012). If the study program can meet the expectations of students, students' interest will arise in trying and enrolling in existing study programs.
Thus, accreditation, as one of quality certifications, will be a main concern to a prospective student. With a good accreditation grade, the quality of service provided is undoubtedly good, and this is what students want.
In general, studies related to accreditation and its relation to students' interest in higher education is rarely found. There are at least 8 studies conducted by Anggraeni, 2016;Dewi & Sutama, 2016;Pratami, 2016;Rudini, 2013;Suprianto & Nikmahi, 2016;Verawati & Irawati, 2016;Widayat, 2018, andIslami, 2018. Interestingly, none of them conducted their studies at tertiary institutions such as in Papua and West Papua. These two regions are still adapting to accreditation. How students can study easily, and affordably becomes a parameter for the institutional development (Yudiawan & Suharmoko, 2020). However, quality optimization such increasing the accreditation grade is pursued as an obedient step in realizing public accountability (MKD-Uncen, 2017).
This study is contributed not only at the conceptual level of theory, but also to empirical studies in fulfilling the quality of institutional quality. Study program accreditation is the primary benchmark in the development of institutional governance, especially public Islamic higher education institutions (PTKIN) in West Papua, Indonesia. Moreover, it also tested how it contributes to fulfill the number of students.
Here, the study program's accreditation, which assesses the quality commitment held by the study program, must be evaluated comprehensively. The existing study program quality standards have been described in 7 (seven) accreditation standards issued by BAN-PT. The entire bar is a reference in conducting higher education. This evaluation is essential to do to ensure whether quality assurance is following public expectations or not. If so, then the study program deserves the best accreditation grade (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012). Hopefully, people of Papua and West Papua are interested to study at PTKI (Islamic higher education institutions) and PTKIN. Based on the above explanation, it is quite clear that PTKIN, as an education provider, must improve its study program quality further. This study seeks to emphasize the importance of developing study program of PTKIN by referring to the seven standards and increasing the accreditation grade. Therefore, this study focuses on three basic formulations, (1) students' interest before and after study program accreditation, (2) the significance effect of study program accreditation grade on students' interest in choosing study programs, and (3) attempts of the study program organizer in increasing accreditation grade at public Islamic higher education institutions. This research was conducted by using two approaches, they are qualitative and quantitative (mixed methods). This was chosen in order to get more objective, valid and comprehensive data (Sugiyono, 2015). This research was conducted at a public Islamic university in Papua, Indonesia for 3 (three) months, started from January until March 2019. It involved all the university students. The number of samples was determined by the Slovin formula and obtained 218 people for quantitative data. The model was taken by using the purposive random sampling technique. This technique is based on sampling with specific considerations (Sugiyono, 2017). Furthermore, ten informants were determined for qualitative data. The data were collected using interview techniques and focus group discussion (FGD) to investigate students' interest and attempts of the study program organizer in increasing accreditation grade at the public Islamic university. Meanwhile, the questionnaires were used to find out quantitative statistical data distributed to 1 st semester students to assess the effect of accreditation grade on their interests. Besides that, it was also used to previously confirm the validity and reliability of the questionnaire by using statistical calculations. The distribution of informants and respondents can be seen in Table 1.  (2019) The data analysis was performed by using two methods, namely descriptive used for qualitative data and inferential statistics used for quantitative data. The qualitative data were then analyzed in three stages, i.e. data reduction, data display and verification or conclusion (Miles et al., 2014). Furthermore, a simple regression model with a statistic t (sig. 5%) was also used to test the hypothesis on quantitative data. The hypothesis proposed is "there is a positive and significant influence of the Study Program accreditation grade on students' interest in choosing study programs at the public Islamic higher education institution". Before testing the data, it was confirmed that the data were normally distributed by the One-Sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test.

ACCREDITATION
In his book, Djaali states that interest strongly correlates with the intrinsic drive (in the individual). It can lead to a desire to be involved or participate in something that belongs to someone's interest. The existing involvement can be manifested with curiosity and learning about particular objects (Djaali, 2013). In this case, the better the quality of the study programs, the more interested students will be to choose the study program.
Indicators of the quality of study program performance can be determined by the quality and quantity of student input (registrants). The measure can be seen in the Achievement Index (IP) of graduates, length of study, and selection process (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012). The number of choice can be calculated from the number of prospective students registering with the number of students accepted. In this study, the data were obtained from the academic section of the public Islamic university during the last seven years. From the obtained data, it showed students' number and the ratio of   The selection rigidity ratio is 1: 1, which means that each study program's selection is not competitive (no competitors). This is due to the policy of the public Islamic university leadership to accept all registrants (Saibu, 2019). The lack of general study programs and poor socialization are the main factors in the absence of competition for prospective students to register at the public Islamic university. This is in line with previous studies, which stated that tight selection plays a role in determining students' numbers. The tighter the student admission selection is carried out, the better the quality will be, and vice versa (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012). Based on these data, there is no tight selection before and after accreditation of the study program.
Furthermore, the tabulation was also carried out from one year before and after accreditation. This method is done to see an overview of the impact of accreditation status on increasing students' number. Cross-tabulation of data on the average number of new students based on accreditation status is shown in Figure 2.  The tabulation results in Figure 2 reveal the average number of new students before and after accreditation. In 2016, all study programs were accredited and got B.
Meanwhile, in 2017 the other study programs were also accredited and got C (PGMI and TBI). Study programs with B grade got an increase in the average number of new students more than the one that got C grade. Study programs accredited in B, such as PAI got 84.9%, BPI got 61.9%), KPI got 154, 5%, ES got 107.3%, and the US got 198.9%. Furthermore, the C accredited study program such as TBI got 12.1% and PGMI got 34.6%. Overall, all study programs had an increase for about 87.5% after being accredited. Thus, the accreditation status can affect the number of new students in each study program. Furthermore, in 2019 the public Islamic university was accredited with a B grade.

INTEREST
The data analysis used to determine the effect of Study Program accreditation on students' interest is simple linear regression analysis. The linear regression model is a way to determine a linear relationship pattern between a dependent variable (X) and an independent variable (Y) (Sugiyono, 2015). This study uses the study program accreditation grade as variable X and students' interest in choosing study program at the public Islamic university as variable Y. The analysis results were carried out after the data was declared that it is in normal distribution, as in Table 3.  Table 3 portrays that the results of the normality analysis attained the alpha or Sig. (2-tailed) of 0.135. This value is more significant than 0.05. This means that the data is normally distributed, and regression testing can be continued. The result of the simple regression test is shown in Table 4.  Furthermore, the R Square value acquisition is used to see the contribution of the accreditation variable (X) to the students' interest variable (Y). For regression analysis of less than two independent variables, R Square is used as the determination coefficient (Priyatno, 2013;Santoso, 2014). The analysis results can be seen in Table 5.  Table 5, the value of R Square is 0.440. This means that the contribution of the effect of the accreditation grade on students' interest in choosing study programs at the public Islamic university is 44.0%. Simultaneously, the remaining 66.0% is influenced or explained by other variables that were not analyzed in this study.
Furthermore, the standard error of the estimate is a measure of the number of errors in the regression model in predicting Y's value, (Priyatno, 2013); (Santoso, 2014). The result of the analysis according to table 4 shows that the Standard Error of the Estimate value is 1.273. It means that there are many errors in predicting students' interest in choosing study programs at the public Islamic university at 1.273%. Furthermore, the hypothesis was tested using the t-test. An overview of the results of hypothesis testing can be seen in Table 6.  Verawati & Irawati (2016). It can be said that accreditation provides a guarantee for the quality standards of higher education. The goal is to protect the community/students in continuing their studies (BAN-PT, 2019).

STUDY PROGRAM ATTEMPTS IN IMPROVING ACCREDITATION GRADE
The study programs of the public Islamic university used accreditation assessment results given by BAN PT as feedback in improving the management and performance (Syahrul et al., 2019). The data in Figure 3 shows the study program's attempts in improving their performance. Standard 4 focusing on human resources gets 15% attention and standard 7 focusing on research, community service, and cooperation (MoU) gets 15% attention. Furthermore, the study program performance improvement regarding curriculum, learning, and academic atmosphere covered in standard 5 gets 12% attention. Meanwhile, the least attention in efforts to improve the results of accreditation is the one related to the vision, mission, goals, and objectives as well as achievement strategies which only gets 3%. In general, the respondents involved in this study were trying to improve the study programs' performance to maximize their performance. The efforts made tend to get the same attention and portion, excepting standard 1 with the lowest score. It can be 236 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10. 28918/jei.v5i2.2805 interpreted that the standard one is more comfortable to achieve by the study program so that the improvements made are more focused on other accreditation standards.
The following are some of the attempts undertaken by the study programs at the public Islamic university to obtain better accreditation grade than before concerning seven accreditation standards. They are presented as follows.

Standard 1: Vision, Mission, Goals and Targets, and Achievement Strategies
This standard is a reference for the superiority of the institutional quality and strategy of the Study Program in achieving its future. The existing plan must have the full support of all parties in the scope of study programs and institutions. The formulation must be based on a comprehensive condition analysis using valid and reliable instruments so that success can be measured (BAN-PT, 2008). The analysis results on standard one show that some of the efforts that the Study Program has done to maximize the quality of its vision and mission include conducting massive and sustainable socialization to the stakeholders. For new study programs that do not have a vision, mission, SMART indicators (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) can be used to formulate the vision, mission, goals, and achievement strategies (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012).

Assurance
The study program's guidance must be reflected in good university governance and bridge all the management of study program stakeholders. Study program leadership must effectively provide encouragement and inspiration in achieving the study program's goals by using a complete managerial concept (total quality management). Starting from planning, up to the implementation of the evaluation stage (Yudiawan, 2018). The hope is that the quality of the study program can be maintained and can be developed. The study program's attempts in improving standards 2 include restructuring the study program management, strengthening the coordination of lecturers-students and vice versa, providing ease of service, and enforcing discipline.
Furthermore, there is also validating some documents of the study program in order to keep the study program's quality assurance system's performance (Sugiyono & 237 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10.28918/jei.v5i2.2805 Nuryanto, 2012) as well as having intensive and continuous coordination pursued massively with the quality assurance center (P2M).

Standard 3: Students and Graduates
This standard is a quality reference for the quality of students and graduates in the study program. The study program must provide quality assurance and implementation of a recruitment and selection system for student candidates and graduate management as an integrated quality unit. Optimization of student services and the development of students' interests and talents also need to be pursued. Moreover, the study program can also facilitates the graduates as products and partners for continuous improvement of study programs by actively participating in empowering alumni (BAN-PT, 2008). However, in fact, it is not easy for the study program at PTKIN especially in the West Papua region to obtain new students. Therefore, to raise students' and graduates' standards, each study program needs to make extra efforts. In this case, some study programs of the public Islamic university have done various things such as by using an MoU system with local governments, mass organizations, and existing Islamic boarding schools (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012;Yudiawan & Suharmoko, 2020). Furthermore, digital-based promotion and socialization have also been used to attract young millennial. Next, the empowerment of graduates is also used as student tracer study tools, forming a public Islamic university alumni association.
Finally, the alumni can also immediately obtain and create institutional-controlled employment opportunities.

Standard 4: Human Resources
Human resource standards must be reliable and able to guarantee the quality of study program implementation. The study program must utilize its human resources, both lecturers and staffs, in achieving the predetermined vision. Lecturers are the primary human resource, informing quality of the students. They supervise the fields of knowledge they serve, and the community's welfare (BAN-PT, 2008). Study programs must have decision-making authority in ensuring the quality of lecturers and the staffs.
However, the study programs at the public Islamic university still use the concept of centralized leadership/chairman. Study program does not have full authority in making 238 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10.28918/jei.v5i2.2805 strategic policies and decisions related to its human resources. Moreover, there are still a small number of lecturers with doctoral degrees, which is difficult to improve the quality of study programs. Therefore, the existing attempts that can be carried out is developing lecturers' careers through assignments or lecturer exchange. Moreover, increasing the competence of lecturers should be pursued massively and continuously because competence in teaching, research, and Community service is the main thing for all lecturers existing in higher education (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012).

Standard 5: Curriculum, Learning, and Academic Atmosphere
Curriculum standards, learning, and academic atmosphere are the standards that determine students' satisfaction. The existing curriculum must be able to guarantee the achievement of study program's goals, the implementation of the mission, and the realization of the study program's vision (BAN-PT, 2008). The curriculum must provide competence and development options for students according to their interests and talents. Besides that, the academic atmosphere in the study program must support students in achieving the expected competences. Therefore, in this case, some study programs try to evaluate and revise the existing curriculum based on the KKNI (Indonesian National Qualification Framework) and design a learning model based on digital technology 4.0.

Standard 6: Finance, Facilities and Infrastructure, and Information Systems
The fulfillment of finance standards, facilities, and information systems must be developed continuously, so that the study program improves the service system according to the accreditation standards. The level of feasibility and adequacy of the availability of funds, infrastructure, facilities, and information systems must be accessible to the study program. It must at least meet the minimum eligibility standards (BAN-PT, 2008). Some of the efforts made by the study program include collaborating with partners in accountable funding, fulfilling campus digital access, and building integrated laboratories. Besides that, the allocation of research funds and lecturers training must also be sought so that lecturers' quality can be improved (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012). All lecturer and student activities must be facilitated and disseminated

Standard 7: Research, Community Service, and Cooperation
This standard is an essential element in the quality assurance of study program accreditation that reflects the tri dharma (education and teaching, research, community services) capacity. Active participation in managing research, community service, and collaboration at the tertiary level must be a severe concern of the study program (Sugiyono & Nuryanto, 2012). The study program can get high appreciation if it can show performance and products from research and community service fields. Therefore, this standard should be the primary concern in improving the quality of study programs in accreditation. To improve the performance in this aspect, the study program needs to give full encouragement to the lecturers to participate in research, either funded (internally through financial assistance for public higher education institutions -BOPTN), or at their own expense, as well as published in reputable journals.
Furthermore, students' involvement in various output-based community service activities and increasing partner cooperation in different relevant sectors also belong to the attempts of the study program's attempts in improving its quality in this aspect. This section requires managerial skills and program execution with the concept of a win-win solution for the collaboration, not just a paper signature.

CONCLUSION
Students' interest, which was confirmed by the number of new students, has increased significantly after study program accreditation. Based on the research result, study program with good accreditation grade will tend to have more new students. It denotes that accreditation status can affect the number of new students. Therefore, this study contributes to encourage study program organizers to have extra efforts in managing the study program. There are many attempts taken by study programs organizers in achieving high accreditation grade. Some of them are by optimizing an integrated internal quality assurance system, accelerating students' length of study, digitizing student admissions and teaching systems, completing facilities and infrastructure, increasing the competence of lecturers in conducting research, 240 Agus Yudiawan Exploring Impact of Quality Accreditation on Students' Interests in Islamic Higher Education DOI: https://doi.org/10.28918/jei.v5i2.2805 community service and publication, improving its performance in providing excellent service to the community, creating excellent academic atmosphere in encouraging lecturers to implement tri dharma in a compatible manner, as well as having coordination at the quality assurance center in conducting coaching and evaluation so that the management of study programs can be well-measured.