ASTONJADRO: Jurnal Rekayasa Sipil pISSN 2302-4240 eISSN 2655-2086 Volume 10, No. 1, Juni 2021, Halaman 173-182 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.32832/astonjadro.v10i1 173 IMPLEMENTATION OF FREE LEARNING POLICY-INDEPENDENT CAMPUS PROGRAMS ON MASTERING COURSE THEORY OF FOUNDATION DESIGN Nila Prasetyo Artiwi, Telly Rosdiyani Civil Engineering Departement, Banten Jaya University Serang Banten, INDONESIA E-mail: prasetyonila2@gmail.com ABSTRACT Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No. 3 of 2020, entitles students to 3 semesters of study outside their study program. Through the Free Learning Policy - Independent Campus program, students have wide opportunity to be able to choose the learning method and place they want which is believed to be able to enrich and increase their insight and competence in the real world according to their passion and aspirations. The "Free Learning, Independent Campus" policy was initiated by the Minister of Education and Culture which includes 1) opening of new study programs, 2) higher education accreditation system, 3) freedom to become State universities with legal status, and 4) the right to study three semesters outside the study program. In planning a foundation structure, calculations must be included regarding the bearing capacity of the soil, soil stability, bearing capacity of the foundation and stability of the foundation, all of which are based on empirical and mathematical calculations. This research was conducted to analyze the level of student mastery of the Foundation Design course. With primary data collection in the form of questionnaires distributed to students of Civil Engineering, Banten Jaya University semester 7 (seven). One of the results of the research shows that students who take part in the apprenticeship program / practical work in projects with foundation work, but have not mastered the theory, most of them cannot plan and design the structure of the foundation (45 people = 84, 91%). Keywords: bearing capacity; foundation design; independent campus; practical work; empirical calculations. Received: 2021-03-03 Revised: 2021-03-06 Accepted: 2021-04-15 Available online: 2021-05-02 INTRODUCTION Indonesia's sustainable development must be supported by human resources who have creativity and innovation. Strong resources are expected to be generated from higher education institutions that prepare their graduates to become skilled, flexible and tough personnel. The Free Learning Policy - Independent Campus launched by the Minister of Education and Culture is a framework to prepare students to become strong scholars, relevant to the needs of the times, and ready to become leaders with a high national spirit (Nizam, 2020). Minister of Education and Culture Regulation No. 3 of 2020, entitles students to 3 semesters of study outside their study program. Through the Free Learning Policy - Independent Campus program, students have ample opportunity to be able to choose the learning method and place they want which is believed to be able to enrich and increase their knowledge and competence in the real world according to their passions and aspirations. The policy of "Free Learning, Independent Campus" was initiated by the Minister of Education and Culture which includes 1) opening of new study programs, 2) higher education accreditation system, 3) freedom to become State universities with legal status, and 4) the right to study three semesters outside the study program. These four fundamental policies provide great hope for private tertiary institutions to develop and have national and international competitiveness (But still there must be a frame, limiting the form of this learning activity, at least 8 (eight) learning programs have been prepared in the form of: internships in Industry, students building villages, teaching in schools, student exchanges, research in research institutes, entrepreneurship development, independent projects, and humanitarian projects. The objective of the Free Learning - Independent Campus policy, the program "the right to study for