Kampus Merdeka Program to Prepare Students to Face Global Challenges: Minister

President Jokowi talks with Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim at the State Palace, Jakarta. (Photo by: BPMI/Lukas)

Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim has initiated an education program for university called “Kampus Merdeka” (Independent Campus) aimed to prepare Indonesian youth to be the future leader.

According to him, the rapidly and unexpectedly global changes have posed challenges for everyone and push them to adapt, including students. The ability to adapt to rapid changes is a vital factor which determines the competitiveness of a nation, he said.

To that end, it takes superior human capital capable of keeping up with global changes to realize the vision of an Advanced Indonesia, he added.

Nadiem said that creating a superior human capital is indeed no easy task, but still possible to do. The Kampus Merdeka program is the answer to encourage student empowerment to be able to adapt to situations and take control of the future.

He expressed hope that universities in Indonesia are to be free from barriers.

“We want to free the universities from barriers. The barrier between academia and industry, the barrier between research and learning, the barrier between faculties, and the barrier between study programs. We want to create a university, a college system that collaborates without walls,” he said.

To be able to carry out these goals, the Ministry has made various policies and incentives for universities to be able to encourage changes to increase the number of students who can leave campus and learn everything outside the academic environment.

For example, learning at other universities and abroad, taking lessons from social projects in the community, encouraging entrepreneurship, and undergoing certified internships in industry or non-profit companies.

“We want our lecturers to also leave campus to gain experience, to foster students outside their own university, or to seek work experience in other industries and universities,” he added.

Nadiem went on to say that the challenges related to this are indeed not easy. However, it is the only way to transform Indonesia’s higher education system to be able to produce graduates who are competitive and able to catch up with global changes.

“The students can learn to work as a team through collaboration. They can also learn to be creative or learn entrepreneurship by doing it in the real world,” said Nadiem. (Presidential Secretariat/UN) (EST/MUR)