Bubungan Tinggi: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat http://ppjp.ulm.ac.id/journals/index.php/btj/index e-ISSN: 2722-3043 p-ISSN: 2722-2934 Vol 7 No 3 2025 DOI: https://doi.org/10.20527/btjpm.v7i3.15135 787 Training for Accelerating The Functional Position of Lecturers through Goal- Setting Strategies Jusuf Blegur*, Anggreini D. N. Rupidara, and Zuvyati Aryani Tlonaen Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Kristen Artha Wacana, Kupang, Indonesia *jusufblegur@ukaw.ac.id Article Info Abstract Article history: Received: April 25, 2025 Accepted: June 16, 2025 Published: July 1, 2025 Higher academic ranks for lecturers impact their performance in the three pillars of higher education and contribute to the university’s performance in various government programs. Unfortunately, in the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, the number of lecturers holding the ranks of associate professor and full professor is minimal. This community service program aims to update participants’ understanding and skills in goal-setting strategies to accelerate functional position. The program involved 17 lecturers. Two main areas of scientific and technological knowledge were transferred to the participants: (1) institutional policies for accelerating functional position and (2) goal-setting strategies for the functional position. Knowledge transfer was carried out using three methods: lectures and discussions, structured exercises, and presentations followed by reflection. The program was evaluated using seven open-ended questions, administered both before and after the training, and assessed using a four- level rubric. Pre-test and post-test data were analyzed descriptively and using the Wilcoxon signed-ranks test. The results showed that the training successfully improved participants’ understanding and skills in applying goal- setting strategies for functional position (Z = -3.539; asymp. sig. = <0.001). Therefore, regular training and mentoring are necessary for accelerating individuals into functional positions. Keywords: Functional position training Functional position acceleration Goal-setting strategy Lecturers’ career development This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution- ShareAlike 4.0 International License © 2025 Bubungan Tinggi: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat To cite this article: Blegur, J., Rupidara, A. D. N., & Tlonaen, Z. A. (2025). Training for accelerating the functional position of lecturers through goal-setting strategies. Bubungan Tinggi: Jurnal Pengabdian Masyarakat, 7(3), 787-807. INTRODUCTION The government has implemented several initiatives to promote lecturers’ career development. However, many lecturers continue to face challenges that limit their progress in achieving higher functional positions. Here are some of the challenges that have been inventoried in scientific reports. Lecturers’ errors in inputting and calculating credit points due to many assessment elements (Kusuma et al., 2016), low lecturer insight into the credit point assessment formula, excessive three pillars of higher education burden, and lack of socialization and training (Setyowati et al., 2018), changing standard rules in calculating journal grades (Muluk & Amelia, 2019), lecturers’ difficulties in calculating their credit points and the disproportionate implementation of the lecturers’ three pillars of higher education so that it accumulates in certain duties (Damayanti et al., 2021), and low administrative awareness of lecturers towards their activities (Setiawati,