Ministry of Education and Culture Reveals Three Tough Challenges for Higher Education

There are three big challenges that mean that today's college graduates can no longer just rely on their diplomas.

JUMARTO YULIANUS

Job seekers crowded the Sultan Suriansyah Building after the opening of the job fair exhibition, Job Fair 2020, in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan on Wednesday (26/2/2020).

JAKARTA, KOMPAS - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology or Kemendikbudristek acknowledges that higher education is being hit by a number of serious challenges. Higher education institutions must adapt quickly in order to produce graduates who are relevant to the needs of today's world of work.

This was said by the Director General of Higher Education, Research and Technology (Dirjen Diktiristek), Kemendikbudristek, Abdul Haris at the undergraduate and postgraduate graduation ceremony Yarsi University< /a>, Jakarta, Saturday (27/4/2024). Haris explained that there are at least three big challenges that mean that today's college graduates can no longer only have a diploma document.

Firstly, universities now have to produce graduates who are relevant to the needs of the industrial world. The rapid changes in the world's industrial needs pose a challenge, requiring universities to adapt very quickly.

"The relevance of higher education is the key to narrowing the gap or gap from the mismatch between the academic world and the industrial world. We often refer to it as less relevance of higher education. We must slowly replace traditional education leave," said Haris.

KOMPAS/STEPHANUS ARANDITIO

The Director General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology (Dirjen Diktiristek), Ministry of Education and Culture and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), Abdul Haris, participated in the graduation ceremony for undergraduate and postgraduate students at Yarsi University in Jakarta on Saturday (27/4/2024).

Students are also required to develop themselves with the times. Academic intelligence with good grades on a diploma is not enough, it is necessary to develop skills that are in line with the needs of the industrial world.

"In addition to the emergence of new skills needed in the world of work, we have now entered the era of artificial intelligence. We must prepare our graduates with digital literacy skills so that they are also able to face global competition in the world of work," he said.

The second challenge is related to limited access to higher education. This is reflected in data from the Directorate General of Science and Technology Education which shows that the gross enrollment ratio is currently only around 31.45 percent. This lags behind Malaysia's 43 percent, Thailand's 49.29 percent, and Singapore's 91.09 percent.

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This means that there are still limitations for students to be able to continue to higher education. This is influenced by various factors, with the main one being the economic capability of the community, which cannot reach higher education institutions.

"This access limitation is getting wider. When we look at people with disabilities, only around 2.8 percent can continue to higher education," said Haris.

KOMPAS/ESTER LINCE NAPITUPULU

Hundreds of Yarsi University undergraduate and postgraduate students attended the graduation ceremony in Jakarta, Saturday (25/10/2023).

Finally, the quality of higher education must continue to be improved because currently only about 2 percent of higher education institutions have excellent accreditation. Currently, Indonesia has nearly 4,356 higher education institutions consisting of 349 State Universities and 4,007 Private Universities.

As a result, Haris is urging all universities to work together with the government to address these various challenges. This is not only for public universities, but also for private universities such as Yarsi University.

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The Chancellor of Yarsi University, Fasli Jalal, admitted that his party also continues to adapt to respond to these challenges. One of them is through entrepreneurial education for students so that they can graduate and become entrepreneurs.

In this graduation, Yarsi University graduated 406 people consisting of 378 bachelor's graduates and 28 postgraduate graduates. This number is higher than the previous graduation period which was 439 people. Fasli urged all of them to become graduates who are brave enough to face the challenges of the times.

"The world is full of challenges but it is also a very promising world," said Fasli.