Managing the Challenges of Vocational Education and Training in Indonesia-The Mire of Uncertainty!

Abstract

The Indonesian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector currently faces many challenges. Across the country, a complex historical amalgam of training facilities is overseen by a centralized administration, which itself is composed of many different Institutes and bureaucracies, each of which has some coordination and resource responsibilities for the implementation of VET. Managing this VET provision is an essential part of Indonesian’s training reform agenda. The Indonesian Government’s higher educational reform Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka has recently been introduced to radically reshape the tertiary education sector through ‘emancipated learning’ requiring innovation, creativity and collaboration. This policy shift has challenged industry, civil society, and educationalists to steer a pathway toward tertiary educational reforms particularly in respect of the challenge in preparing human capability programs that meet the demands of a modern workforce. Therefore a refocus towards closer partnerships between VET providers and the industries they serve is urgently needed in order to meet the competency standards required of a modern Indonesian workforce. This paper explores these national and international challenges as they pertain to managing these transformational VET reforms.

Keywords: Vocational Education and Training, Competency standards, Kampus Merdeka.

DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-33-03

Publication date: November 30^th 2021