Gov’t Establishes Maritime Polytechnic

Minister of Research, Education and Higher Education M. Nasir shakes hands with representatives of the Indonesian Public Maritime Polytechnic after delivering a press release at the Merdeka Palace on Monday (20/6).

This year, the Indonesian Government through Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education is establishing ten polytechnics to prepare professional human resources in maritime, material, electronic, shipbuilding, food, and manufacturing sectors.

“In accordance with President Jokowi’s directives, we aim to develop vocational education, including in maritime education,” said Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education Mohammad Nasir to reporters after accompanying President Jokowi meeting with representatives of the Indonesian Public Maritime Polytechnic (Polimarin) at the Merdeka Palace on Monday (20/6).

According to Nasir, those polytechnics will be designed as pilot projects and all their graduates are expected to be able to meet the market’s demand and have certification from professional certification institutions.

Especially for Polimarin graduates, they must also have a certification from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), the Minister said.

Graduates of other majors must also have certification from professional certification institutions under the National Education Standardization Agency (BSNP), Nasir added.

“This is very important for the media to know so the public knows that we are improving the quality of our human resources,” the Minister said.

In the meantime, Polimarin Director, Sri Tutie Rahayu, said that the meeting was held following the President’s instruction after his working visit to Germany a couple of months ago.

“We are ready to develop maritime vocational education. We’re the only maritime vocational institution under Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education. We also hope that our presence can support the President’s maritime fulcrum program,” Sri said.

Sri added that Polimarin is the manifestation of Nawacita to strengthen Indonesia’s maritime sector and said that due to Jokowi’s vision to strengthen Indonesia’s maritime sector,  President Jokowi is expected an award in maritime sector on the World Maritime Day on 29 September 2016 to be commemorated in Turkey.

“Because the President has a commitment to develop maritime sectors, so we are also planning to confer him with the Bapak Maritim Indonesia (the father of Indonesian’s Maritime) award,” Sri said.

Polimarin, which is located in Semarang, Central Java, is a polytechnic under the supervision of Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education. To improve the quality of maritime education and training, it has also cooperated with universities in Germany, Sweden, South Korea, and Japan.

Polimarin currently offers three programs, Nautical Program, Maritime Technical Program, and Seaport and Trade Shipping Administration Program.

In the near future, it will introduce new programs, including Logistics Program, Maritime Communication Program, Ship Machinery Equipment Program, Magnetic Electronic and Ship Equipment Automaticity Program as well as Off-Shore Drilling Program. (FID/ES) (EP/YM/Naster)