10(2), December 2023 e-ISSN: 2549-8673, p-ISSN : 2302-884X https://erudio.ub.ac.id 154 ASSESSING THE IMPACTS OF NATIONAL POLICIES ON INDONESIAN AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITIES’ RESEARCH PERFORMANCE Iis Nur Rodliyah 1,2 , Hsueh-Hua Chuang 1 1 International Graduate Program of Education and Human Development, National Sun Yan- sen University, Taiwan (ROC) 2 Faculty of Cultural Studies, Universitas Brawijaya, Indonesia *Email: iisrodliyah@gmail.com ABSTRACT This qualitative study aimed to examine the potential impact of policies granting Indonesian top universities with special autonomy status called as Legal Entity State University, or Perguruan Tinggi Negeri Badan Hukum (PTN-BH), on their research performance. This study involved an analysis of eight national policy documents related to PTN-BH or autonomous universities, which were retrieved from a trusted government regulation database webpage. All the data were collected from existing documents, making this research a document study, with data interpretation conducted through content analysis. The findings reveal that the regulations on the requirements and procedures for PTN-BH status, as well as the policy on the funding types and schemes, have contributed to the research performance disparities between universities that were granted PTN-BH status at different points in time. The updated regulations have lowered and simplified the requirements and procedures for obtaining PTN- BH status, allowing universities with lower initial performance to apply. Universities’ ability to comply with the funding policy of self-generating income, matching-fund, and performance- based funding system also influence the universities’ budgeting allocation, including for research activity. Lastly, the regulation on giving autonomy to universities in deciding their top managerial structure leading to various designations in assigning a vice-rector to manage the research affairs is also a significant factor in the university’s research performance. KEYWORDS: higher education policy, PTN-BH, autonomous university, university research outcomes, content analysis INTRODUCTION In the Indonesian higher education (HE) system and governance, the central government’s obligation is explained in an official document titled Government Regulation No. 4 Year 2014. This regulation states that the government’s primary responsibility in the HE system and governance is to assure the quality and autonomy of Indonesian higher education institutions (HEIs) to serve citizens who are seeking a quality HE degree. In addition to fulfilling the country’s interests and aiding domestic stakeholders including students, parents, society, and business companies, the Indonesian government has been continuously making efforts to meet the globalization demands. Therefore, the government has implemented policies focusing on managing and supporting public universities to give them the capabilities and resources to compete globally and earn global or international recognition and reputation as world class universities. Indonesia, like other countries, especially those in Asia, has been following the trend of providing special aid to selected top universities enacted under national projects or policies (Balatsky & Ekimova, 2020; Han et al., 2018; Hartley & Jarvis, 2021; King et al., 2011; Matveeva et al., 2021; Mok et al., 2020; Sugimura, 2016). Within the national project context, global reputation usually refers to a university securing a certain position in one or more international university rankings, for example, Academic Ranking of World