Student Achievement Rewards in Relation to Key Performance Indicator 3: A Qualitative Policy Evaluation at an Indonesian Public University

Abstract

This study evaluates a student achievement reward policy at an Indonesian public university and examines its relevance to the student-achievement dimension of Key Performance Indicator 3 (IKU 3). Using a qualitative evaluative single-case design structured by Dunn’s six criteria, the study drew on 31 interviews—20 students, six faculty supervisors, four student-affairs officials and technical implementers, and one senior leader-alongside observation, document review, and institutional records from 2022–2025. Data were structurally coded and interpreted through cross-source triangulation and negative-case comparison. Rewards functioned primarily as institutional recognition and supplementary motivation rather than the main reason for entering competitions. SIMPELMAWA centralized submission and verification, but document deficiencies, peak-period workloads, limited status information, uneven dissemination, and partial financial coverage constrained administrative experience and equitable access. Because detailed expenditure data, formal service standards, faculty- and campus-disaggregated administrative denominators, and case-level reconciliation with official IKU 3 records were unavailable, the study does not claim formal cost-efficiency, statistically measured inter-unit equity, or measured IKU 3 conversion. Instead, it proposes a recognition-access-conversion model as an audit framework and recommends proactive communication, document pre-validation, service standards, system integration, equity monitoring, and periodic conversion audits.