From Ratio to Relationship: Rethinking Faculty–Student Capacity, Academic Interaction, and Learning Quality in ASEAN Universities in the QS WUR 2027 Context
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.59890/mjst.v3i9.343Keywords:
Faculty–Student Ratio; Class Size; Faculty–Student Interaction; Student Engagement; Sense of Belonging; Teaching Quality; Learning Quality; University Rankings; ASEAN Higher Education; IPB UniversityAbstract
Faculty–student ratio is widely used as an indicator of educational resources and learning experience, yet the extent to which a favourable ratio translates into better educational quality remains conceptually and empirically contested. Using the QS World University Rankings 2027 context as an empirical point of departure, this qualitative literature review examines how faculty capacity is converted into meaningful educational relationships and student outcomes. Particular attention is given to ASEAN universities and to IPB University, which is reported in the source infographic as seventh in ASEAN for the faculty–student-ratio indicator despite a markedly different position in the overall world ranking. Drawing on more than 50 peer-reviewed journal articles published since 2020, the review identifies seven interrelated themes: faculty–student ratio as institutional capacity rather than educational quality itself; the mediating role of actual class size; faculty accessibility and relationship quality; student engagement and belonging; faculty workload and institutional governance; digital and hybrid learning; and the limitations of ranking indicators as representations of multidimensional university quality. The article proposes a Faculty Capacity–Interaction–Engagement–Outcomes (FCIEO) framework in which structural capacity affects educational outcomes through operational and relational conversion mechanisms moderated by discipline, student characteristics, teaching modality and institutional governance
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