In this reshuffle, Nadiem Makarim was appointed as the first Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, according to the Presidential Decision No.

[6] On 30 July 2021, President Joko Widodo issued the permanent constituting document of the ministry, Presidential Decree No.

He expressed his hope that, with the merger, the now independent BRIN would play an important role in accelerating the growth of research in Indonesia.

[9] The Deputy Chief of Commission X in the People's Representative Council, Hetifah Syaifudian of Golkar, also praised the move.

[10] The deputy chief of the Prosperous Justice Party faction in the People's Representative Council Mulyanto from the opposition criticized the decision, saying that the change was not effective.

While the merger was successful, Mulyanto claimed that the ministry was not effective when combined to manage research and technology development and educational affairs.

While the Chief of Commission X in the People's Representative Council, Syaiful Huda of the National Awakening Party, praised the move, he criticized the timing of the formation of the new ministry, happening in the middle of the second term of the ruling government, when normally such a major change would have been done earlier.

The three options are as follows:[14] The ministry launched the Independent Curriculum (Indonesian: Kurikulum Merdeka) as part of learning activities' recovery process.

The organization was described as "unusual and abnormal" with around 400 members, comparable in size to a General Directorate of a ministry, from product managers, data scientists, and software engineers.

[16][17][18][19] Such move criticized by People's Representative Council,[16] and mass organizations advocating teachers' welfare and education.

[8] Despite that, the coordination between the ministry and the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) was not yet made clear in the constituting document.

28/2021 distinguished BRIN as a separate entity and clearly outlined the ministry's power in regulating scientific, research, and technology affairs, confirming Makarim's statement.