We realize that Indonesia must make a big leap
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim has highlighted the need for a big leap to improve the quality of education in Indonesia and create competitive human resources.

"We realize that Indonesia must make a big leap. We want to improve the quality of education," he said at the Week of Indonesia-Netherlands Education and Research event here on Tuesday.

One of the examples of the government's big leaps for improving the quality of education in Indonesia is the Kurikulum Merdeka (Freedom Curriculum) and Merdeka Belajar (Freedom in Learning) programs, he added.

He explained that the Kurikulum Merdeka program gives teachers the freedom to design quality learning that suits students' needs and environment.

According to him, the program is meant to build learning that prioritizes student emancipation, blurs the boundaries between academia and industries, and increases cross-sector collaboration for creating innovative solutions.

The minister further said that the Merdeka Belajar program has provided more than 760 thousand students the opportunity to study outside the campus, whether through internships with industries or other organizations or by becoming entrepreneurs.

In addition, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology has also released a management platform for universities and industries to carry out joint research supported by matching funds.

He informed that since the platform was launched in 2021, more than 2 thousand collaborative projects have been funded. Those projects have supported research priorities, such as green economy, blue economy, tourism, digital technology, health, and others.

Apart from cross-sector collaborations, the ministry is also strengthening international collaboration and cooperation for improving the education sector through bilateral relations, including between Indonesia and the Netherlands.

The effort has been realized through the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program, which has provided 204 Indonesian students the opportunity to experience quality learning at 9 world-class universities in the Netherlands.

The minister added that under the IISMA program, the education sector has moved in a really beneficial direction.

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Translator: Astrid Faidlatul, Raka Adji
Editor: Sri Haryati
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