The 76th Independence Day of Indonesia was on Tuesday, August 17th, 2021. Even though it’s still in the pandemic, Indonesia was hoped and prayed to be a formidable nation and always evolving.

At the same time, Independence Day coincided with the 64-year-old Muhammadiyah-’Aisyiyah Higher Education Institutions (MHEIs)’ progress. Muhammad Sayuti, M.Pd, M.Ed, Ph.D., the Secretary of Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development (CHERD), explained that 64 years was a long period for MHEIs to educate nations’ life. “The hard work was marked with the establishment of the excellent campuses, academic research achievements, and the superiority beyond the governmental campus supported by the state budget,” he said.

One of Muhammadiyah’s breakthroughs was being the first organization in Indonesia that got permit issuance of Higher Education Institution establishment overseas, which in Malaysia. “That was an achievement needed to record. However, the future challenges might be varied, and challenging in the national and international context,” he explained. Therefore, Sayuti expected that MHEIs not to stop to innovate, jihad ‘struggle’, tajdid ‘renewal’, put the hard work to improve Indonesian education through higher education institutions and to educate nations’ life in the Progressive Islam perspective. [] The 76th Independent Day of Indonesia / Diktilitbang