Remarks of President Joko Widodo at the Limited Meeting on Vocational Education and Its Implementation, 16 November 2017, at 14.30 PM at Bogor Presidential Palace
Unofficial English Translation
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,
Good Afternoon,
May prosperity be upon us all.
In this afternoons limited meeting we will continue to discuss firstly, vocational education, and secondly, laws on education that needs to be revised in my opinion. Therefore, foreign universities, academies, and polytechnics are able to establish their campuses in Indonesia.
In 2030, we will need 58 million skilled workers who are considered adequate to help us reach seventh place in world economic ranking. Moreover, we are currently focusing on infrastructure development, but in the second important phase, we need to improve our human resources. We see nowadays that global changes have taken place so rapidly and we need to anticipate it. So, I hope that we can make changes to our education that probably have not showed fundamental changes for the past 30 years. Thus, the improvement of human resources can adapt to global changes, by focusing on vocational training and polytechnic, and it is very important in dealing with the challenges in the future.
In this afternoon, we we invite Mas Nadiem Makarim and Mas Adamas Belva Syah to present their views on how to face these rapid challenges through providing adequate education. I have discussed this with them about the language of coding, language that relates to data, and languages that are needed in the future.
I have addressed the issue several times, in our universities and vocational high schools, the Faculty of Economics, for example, offers same majors for more than 30 years. The majors are always the same from time to time. Accounting, corporate economics, or economic development. Which major do Bu Menkeu (Minister of Finance) pursue? It must have been one of the three. Whereas the world is changing, the majors are still the same. Why there is no university that is encouraged to etablish a faculty of digital economy with the major of online shop, the major of retail management, or logistic management. I see none. It has been the same in the past 30 years, whereas the world is completely changing. I believe we need this breakthrough.
As for the competition between universities, there should be strong competitors. I am hoping that there will be foreign universities or polytechnics that would like to establish their campuses in Indonesia, so that we will have comparison in terms of management, curriculum, and so on. Otherwise, we cannot make a comparison, whether we are on the right track or not.
That is all I have to say. To begin with, Nadiem and Belva please share your views on this in two minutes time. (PR, Cabinet Secretariat)(PP/AW/YM/Naster)