ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is approaching by the end of 2015. AEC is a global single market in which there is liberalization of trade in goods, services, investment, venture capital and the mobility of human resources. AEC not only affects the economic sector, but also education, especially higher education, which produces human capital with high competitive quality. Results of the research done by UNESCO, OECD, World Bank, and OBHE indicate that higher education is a driving force for economic development therefore has encouraged state countries to increase national competitiveness through formation of human resources and globally competitive research base in order to increase the contribution of universities to advance the nation and the state. For Indonesia, the problem is whether Indonesia’s higher education is ready in anticipating the impact of the AEC in 2015, both in terms of policy and regulatory. With normative legal research methods including interviews on a limited basis, the problems are studied in depth in this dissertation. Institutional wise, higher education is loaded with a mission. When quality of human capital is used as a measure of the success of education efforts, then it is quiet acceptable to use high competitiveness ability as a measure of the success of educational process. Various efforts and concentration are done to produce Indonesian people with high competitive ability. Universities, with the facilities and infrastructure, including its curriculum, has not been able to produce human capital with high competitiveness. To that end, a substantial reform in the higher education system has taken place through Act No.12 of 2012 on Higher Education, as well as technical regulations regarding KKNI PT, SNPT and the change of higher education domain under the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. However, the study concluded that Indonesia requires a grand strategy of higher education that is holistic, concrete and comprehensive, including strategic policy to address the liberalization of higher education in order to be able to provide the maximum benefit for the development of the nation. / hadapi dampak AEC 2015, baik dari segi kebijakan maupun regulasi operasionalnya. Dengan metode penelitian hukum normatif dilengkapi wawancara secara terbatas, permasalahan itu dikaji secara mendalam dalam disertasi ini. Secara institusional, pendidikan tinggi memang sarat dengan misi. Apabila kualitas SDM dijadikan ukuran keberhasilan upaya pendidikan, maka tidak keliru jika kekuatan daya saing menjadi salah satu tolak ukur keberhasilan proses pendidikan itu. Selama ini berbagai upaya dan konsentrasi diarahkan untuk menghasilkan manusia Indonesia yang berdaya saing tinggi. Perguruan tinggi, dengan sarana dan prasarana termasuk kurikulum yang dimiliki, ternyata belum mampu berkarya membangun model manusia dengan daya saing tinggi. Untuk itu, reformasi substansial dalam sistim pendidikan tinggi telah dijalankan melalui Undang-Undang No.12 Tahun 2012 tentang Pendidikan Tinggi, serta regulasi teknis mengenai KKNI PT, SNPT dan penyatuan domain pendidikan tinggi di bawah Kementerian Riset, Tekhnologi dan Pendidikan Tinggi. Namun, penelitian menyimpulkan bahwa Indonesia memerlukan grand strategy penyelenggaraan pendidikan tinggi yang holistik, konkret dan komprehensif, termasuk kebijakan strategis untuk menyikapi liberalisasi pendidikan tinggi guna dapat memberi manfaat yang sebesar-besarnya bagi kemajuan bangsa dan negara.