Indonesian International Student Mobility Award (IISMA) Vocational Edition was officially launched by the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Anwar Makarim virtually in Jakarta, on Thursday (14/04). Minister Nadiem explained that the ISMA Vocational Edition program provides opportunities for all D3 and D4 vocational students throughout Indonesia from private and public campuses to study at world-class campuses in close collaboration with international companies.
“During this program, students will not only develop specific technical skills related to their majors, but also skills needed in the world of work such as leadership, communication skills, working in groups and things that are difficult to learn if we only study in class,” said Nadiem in his speech.
Nadiem also hopes that this program can provide experience and ability to encourage more innovations made by the nation’s children. “In the future, this program can also be carried out by lecturers, because great educators are not only the smartest but those who want to continue learning,” said Nadiem.
On this occasion, the Director General of Vocational Education, Wikan Sakarinto, was also present. Wikan emphasized that currently there is a gap in the availability of labor with industrial developments that are not fast enough to be adapted and controlled together into the curriculum and learning process of Project Based Learning.
“With IISMA Vocational Edition, we will send vocational students to various countries. On the one hand, they will learn a lot about other things that they may encounter on their campus. They will also become ambassadors for the development of cooperation. So we also hope that they will become ambassadors for developing international vocational cooperation with the international community in the future,” said Wikan.
The Academic Director of Vocational Higher Education Kemendikbudristek, Beny Bandanadjaja on the same occasion also emphasized that this program is important so that students have global experience of the world. Because, currently the borders between countries are getting thinner to compete with students graduating from other countries.
“In the future, we need energy that is in the development of the times and technology. We know that in the technological era of the industrial revolution 4.0 and society 5.0, everything is changing rapidly, the boundaries between countries are disappearing and we also have to be competent,” said Benny.
Benny also said that through this program the government functions as a facilitator and universities as the implementation of vocational education also become facilitators with the main goal of vocational students being Indonesian people who have high competence.
“So that later we can build Indonesia towards a golden Indonesia and work hand in hand and work together to be able to realize a very quality education for future development,” concluded Benny. |Source Kemendikbud|