President Jokowi Says University Curriculum should be Flexible

To anticipate rapid changes, President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo asked all universities, in particular universities under PP Muhammadiyah, especially Ahmad Dahlan University in Yogyakarta, to prepare themselves.

“Don’t be lulled by our routine activities that make us unable to create breakthroughs,” President Jokowi said when giving a lecture at the Campus of Ahmad Dahlan University, Bantul, DI Yogyakarta, Saturday (22/7) afternoon. The President added that we should not work monotonously and do not realize that there is a change. “We must have courage to make changes,” the President further said.

Curriculum, for example, must be flexible to follow these rapid changes. To cope with the changes, a university should make something different, for example, to establish a faculty of logistics in addition to faculty of economy or law. Logistics is a specific sector and it is really important. It could also establish a faculty of animation that has a special major to learn internet memes.

The President also added that it is also important to build a retail platform that can be a major player in Southeast Asia region, even in the world.

To Win the Competition

To win a competition, according to the President, it is important to continue to make innovations.“If we have courage to do this, insya Allah, we can win the competition,” the President said.

In addition, it is also important to be creative and to have entrepreneurship spirit. “These are the values that must be taught in the universities,” the President further said.

The lecture in Ahmad Dahlan University was attended by Minister of State Secretary Pratikno, Minister of Research and Technology and Higher Education M. Nasir, General Chairman of Central Executive Board of Muhammadiyah Haedar Nashir, and Governor of Yogyakarta Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono X. After the lecture, the President laid a cornerstone for the construction of Muhammadiyah Museum. (UN/GUN/ES)(MMB/YM/Naster)