At least a third or 30 percent of the total number of vocational students throughout Indonesia have benefited from the Vocational School Center of Excellence.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The revitalization of vocational education is one of the government's efforts to support the realization of Indonesia's 2045 vision, Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, has said.

Indonesia is targeting to become a high-income country and one of the top five world economic powers by 2045, he noted.

"Revitalization of vocational education and training is an effort to improve our vocational education that is carried out in a comprehensive, continuous, integrated, and coordinated manner," he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

The transformation of vocational education is intended to create a collaborative and sustainable vocational education ecosystem to create adaptive and creative human resources (HR) who are equipped to face future challenges, he explained.

Therefore, the government is paying attention to strengthening vocational education, including by issuing Presidential Regulation (Perpres) Number 68 of 2022 that further seeks to accelerate synergy among vocational education stakeholders and make it more comprehensive, sustainable, integrated, and coordinated, Makarim informed.

In addition, he said that his ministry has created an Independent Learning Program to strengthen vocational education units through two flagship programs, namely the Vocational School Center of Excellence and the Vocational Freedom Campus.

The Independent Learning breakthrough in vocational education has succeeded in connecting vocational education graduates with the needs of the world of work, the minister noted.

This is evident from the continued increase in industry participation in vocational programs launched by the ministry year after year.

One of the supports from the industry for vocational schools has been provided through the increasing number of matchmaking schemes, he said.

A survey of 708 vocational education partner industries conducted by the ministry found that the level of satisfaction of industry partners in vocational education has currently reached 3.46 on a scale of four, Makarim disclosed.

"At least a third or 30 percent of the total number of vocational students throughout Indonesia have benefited from the Vocational School Center of Excellence," he pointed out.

A total of 373 vocational schools from around 1,400 Vocational School Centers of Excellence have started implementing the Matching Support Scheme, which involves 349 partner industries, and have been able to access industrial investment amounting to Rp400 billion, the minister informed.

Besides the Vocational School Center of Excellence program, the industry's involvement in the matching fund program at vocational colleges has also increased in the past two years.

In 2021, the total amount for the recommended collaboration fund was Rp65 billion, while in 2022, it increased to Rp133 billion, Makarim noted.

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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul H, Resinta S
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
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