President Jokowi Encourages Foreign Universities to Open Branches in Indonesia

President Jokowi leads a limited meeting on Vocational Education at the Bogor Palace, West Java, on Thursday (16/11)

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo on Thursday (16/11) at the Bogor Palace, West Java led a limited cabinet meeting on Vocational Education and Its Implementation.

In the introductory remarks, the President said that Law of Education needs to be revised so foreign universities and polytechnics can establish campuses in Indonesia.

The President reminded that in 2030, Indonesia will need 58 million skilled workers in order to become the seven largest economy. Therefore, the Government is now focusing on infrastructure development and will focus on human resources development in the second phase of the development, the President said.

President Jokowi also hopes that Indonesia’s education system that has not changed for 30 years can adopt new majors. The President cited examples in universities in which the majors are still the same as those in couple of decades ago, like majors in Faculty of Economy which only include accounting, business economics, or development economics.

“That’s all. It has not changed. The world has rapidly changed, but why there is no Faculty of Digital Economics and there are no majors in retail management, or logistics management in our universities?” the President wondered.

“I haven’t seen the development. We have not changed for 30 years; yet the world has rapidly changed. I think we should make breakthroughs,” President Jokowi said.

The President also expressed his hopes that there will be foreign universities which will establish polytechnics or universities in Indonesia so that Indonesian universities would have a comparison.

“If there is comparison for management, educational curriculum, and other fields, it will set a good benchmark. We will know whether we have done great job or not,” the President explained.

Also on during the meeting, President Jokowi invited CEO and founder of Go-Jek Indonesia Nadiem Makarim and CEO of Ruangguru Adamas Belva Syah to share their opinions on things to be done in facing the rapid global change.

Attending the event were Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs Wiranto, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Darmin Nasution, Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung, Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki, Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir Effendy, Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education M. Nasir, Minister of Manpower Hanif Dhakiri, Minister of Religious Affairs Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, Minister of Industry Airlangga Hartarto, Minister of Transportation Budi K. Sumadi, Minister of State-owned Enterprises Rini Soemarno, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati, and Head of Investment Coordinating Board (BKPM) Thomas Lembong. (DND/AGG/ES) (RAS/EP/YM/Naster)