The Performance Improvement and the Competitiveness of Private Universities (PTS) in North Sumatera through the Strategy of Building Institutional Competence

The position of North Sumatra universities at the national level can be seen in the data released by DIKTI 2015 concerning Classification and Ranking of Higher Education 2015. The best 200 universities in Indonesia, only 5 universities from North Sumatera are included in the list, both state universities and private universities namely: ranked 29th Meand State University, ranked 38th North Sumatera University, ranked 94th Pancabudi Development University, ranked 158th Meand Area University, ranked 176th North Sumatera Muhammadiyah University. It is still far from satisfactory, considering that there are still many private universities in North Sumatera outside the top 200 positions, so it needs to be realized the quality and performance private universities in North Sumatera is still lagging. Abstract

Changes that occur in the global business environment have also triggered an increase competitive intensity between providers of higher education services, so that each of them will strive to offer high quality of higher education services. Private universities must apply new perspective that contains elements of flexibility, speed, innovation, and integration. Flexibility, speed, innovation, and integration really require human resources who are full of creativity. Creativity can arise from human resources who have advantages in science. Thus PTS is expected not only to be able to produce the best graduated but also to be able to develop two things contained in the Tri Dharma of Higher Education, namely researching with high quality research result and develop technology for community services. For this reason PTS must always be able to adapt, develop, and make improvement through organisational learning (Henderson and Clockburn, 2004). Barney and Hansen (2009) emphasize the importance of business environment, reputation in relation to sustainable competitive advantage.
The position of Indonesian universities in international level can also be seen in the list of the best universities in the world issued by QS World University Rankings 2016-2017. From the list that can be accessed in www.topuniversities.com, only 3 Indonesian PTN are included in the list of the world's 500 best universities namely: ranking 325 University of Indonesia, ranking 401-419 Bandung Institute of Technology, ranking 501-550 Gajah Mada University. There are still many PTN's and private universities that have not been included in the list, so it can also be concluded that the quality of education in Indonesia is not evenly distributed.
Based on the description of the problem phenomenon above, the authors conducted research under the title "The Performance Improvement and the Competitiveness of Private Universities (PTS) in North Sumatera through The Strategy of Building Institutional Competence".

The Current Condition of PTS in North Sumatera
The position of North Sumatra universities at the national level can be seen in the data released by DIKTI 2015 concerning Classification and Ranking of Higher Education 2015. The best 200 universities in Indonesia, only 5 universities from North Sumatera are included in the list, both state universities and private universities, namely 2 PTN and 3 PTS. 3 PTS are Pancabudi Development University (ranked 94), Meand Area University (ranked 158), North Sumatera Muhammadiyah University (ranked 176). Even though the number of private universities in North Sumatra is 267 private universities, meaning that only 1.1% are in the 200 best category in Indonesia. This means that it can be concluded that the quality of private universities in North Sumatra is lagging behind other regions in Indonesia.
With the potential of Meand as the capital of North Sumatra, as the 3rd largest city in Indonesia, there should be more private universities from North Sumatra, especially Medan, which is included in the list of Indonesia's top 200. Therefore, a strategy is needed to build institutional competencies in order to improve the performance and competitiveness of private universities (PTS) in North Sumatra (website: kemenristek dikti, kopertis wilayah-1, 2017).

Research Variable
There are 4 independent variables examined in this study, namely: organizational learning, internal environment, reputation, and competence. The organizational learning variable with indicator-1: commitment to learning means how leaders and employees provide the best service to customers (students, lecturers, companies, communities, other institutions, etc.) and commitment from all stakeholders to provide continuous improvement (continuous improvement) to their customers. Indicator-2: sharing the vision and goals of the institution. The vision and mission of the organization should be communicated and shared with all employees at each employee level, from top management to middle management to lower management. The vision and mission is not only a display on campus but is to be communicated and implemented. Leaders must always monitor how employees carry out the vision and mission of the institution, AB. Susanto (2008).
Indicator-3 is openness. All levels of the organization, from leaders to subordinates, must be open to improvement and willing to accept change. Feedback and coaching needs to be continuously provided to improve the performance of each division and every level of employees. The roles of university leadership starting from the Chancellor, Vice Chancellor, Dean, Deputy Dean, Chairperson, Deputy Chairperson, Study Program, lecturers are very important in their role to encourage this openness.
Internal environment variables with indicator-1: human resources (knowledge, skills, experiences, and judgment). The quality of human resources plays an important role in this matter. It is necessary to continuously monitor the knowledge, skills, experience, and assessment of employees in each case of the problem. It is necessary to map the position of each employee of the 4 HR competencies so that the training needs they need are known according to their respective competencies and positions. Indicator-2: organizational structure: span of control or span of control. The control range that is too large or too little makes organizational control ineffective and inefficient. Need to adjust the organizational structure with the organizational strategy that has been prepared (Hitt, M. And R Duane Ireland, 2006).
Indicator-3: organizational culture. There are 3 important factors that need to be considered in building a competency culture in a company (corporate value), namely: leadership, capabilities, and systems. Leadership must be supported by employee systems and capabilities. The system means SOP (standard operating procedure) must exist, job descriptions must be neatly organized, job evaluation and weighting must be carried out well. Capability means competence in the form of knowledge, skills, attitude, behavior, and motivation. With the presence of a leader, system, employee capabilities, company culture will be formed AB. Susanto (2008).  Syardiansah, et al (2020) in their research on The Effect of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Culture on Employee Performance of the Royal Hotel in East Aceh District. The result showed that Job satisfaction has a positive and significant effect on employee performance at The Royal Hotel in East Aceh Regency. This is evidenced from the t test in which the t value of 0.029 <0.05 was obtained. Organizational culture has a positive and significant effect on employee performance at The Royal Hotel in East Aceh Regency. This is evidenced from the t test in which the t-value of 0.035 <0.05 was obtained. Job satisfaction and organizational culture simultaneously have a significant effect on the performance of employees of The Royal Hotel in East Aceh Regency. This is evidenced from the F test where F sig 0.034 <0.05. From the results of the analysis of the coefficient of determination can be explained that job satisfaction and organizational culture affect the performance of employees of The Royal Hotel in East Aceh Regency by 58.6%. While the remaining 41.4% is influenced by other variables not examined in this study.

Originality of Research
In previous research by Nur Hayati (2013), the independent variables studied were: leadership capability, market orientation. The dependent variable is the performance of the institution, which then affects the competitiveness of the institution. The research object of STIE Accreditation Management Study Program B in West Java and Banten. In Dwi Suryanto Hidayat's research (2008), the independent variables studied were organizational learning, external environment, and reputation. The dependent variable studied is competency which in turn affects performance. PTS research object in the Central Java Region. While the proposer proposes a study with 4 independent variables: organizational learning, internal environment, reputation, and competence. The dependent variable is the performance of the institution, which in turn affects the competitiveness of the institution. The object of research is private universities in North Sumatra Region. The complexity of the proposer problem is higher and more comprehensive than previous studies.

Population and Sample
The population in this study were all private universities in North Sumatra, amounting to 267 universities. Determination of the number of samples is done by considering the conditions that must be met when using SEM, namely the number of samples ranging from 100-200 and a minimum of five times the number of indicators. This study uses 16 indicators so that the minimum sample requirement is 80. The unit of analysis in this study is PTS. Respondents This study was divided into 2 stages: Phase-1 focused on the leadership of PTS (rector or vice chancellor I, II, or III; director or deputy director I, II, or III; chairman or deputy chairman I, II, or III), where one PTS will be represented by one respondent. This study will use the perceptions of PTS leaders regarding organizational learning, the influence of the internal environment, reputation, competencies that will affect the performance of PTS and then affect the competitiveness of PTS. PTS leaders were chosen as respondents, because they were considered to be the most aware of the conditions in their PTS according to the variables in this study. Stage-2 the respondents were extended to student suppliers, namely high schools that supply many students so far, companies / institutions using or users of graduate students, students, lecturers, administrative staff to describe the competitiveness of the institution.

Method of Data Collecting
Primary data as well as secondary data in this study were collected by means of cross section, which is a one-time study using many respondents. The research data were collected in two ways; first to conduct interviews by coming directly to the research location; second, using a list of questions sent by mail.

Data Analysis Technique
The analysis technique is used to interpret and analyze the data. In accordance with the multidimensional and tiered model developed in this study, the data analysis used is Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). This study uses 2 kinds of analysis techniques: confirmatory factor analysis in SEM which is used to confirm the most dominant factor in a group of variables, and regression weight in SEM which is used to examine most of the relationships between variables.

V. Conclusion
Organizational Learning significantly affects the performance and competitiveness of Higher Education, but this is not the case with the Internal Environment. The effect of organizational empowerment on increasing the competitiveness of higher education is not supported by competence. Competency variables have a positive and significant effect on PTS performance Organizational learning variables have a positive and significant effect on institutional performance but have no significant effect on institutional competitiveness. Institutional performance variables have a positive and significant effect on institutional competitiveness It is suggested for further researchers it is recommended to examine more variable indicators for the competency, performance, and institutional competitiveness variables so that the research accuracy is expected to be better.