With a friendly smile, Febrina Revi, 21 years old, greeted a customer entering the counter of Pandu Logistics, a local courier company. “Good morning, how can I help you,” greeted Febrina while requesting the customer to take a seat. She was one of the sixth semester students who was doing an apprenticeship programme with a plug and play method at the Pandu Logistics counter located within the campus of Politeknik APP Jakarta.

The plug and play is a learning model to accommodate demands of the business world conducted by polytechnics. This learning method presents an atmosphere that is close to the real working environment and industrial activity as conducted by Politeknik APP Jakarta, in collaboration with the industry.

Ahmad Cahyo Nugroho, Deputy Director for Education of Politeknik APP Jakarta, explained that to ensure the competency and employability of its graduates, Politeknik APP Jakarta has built a synergy and collaboration with the industry. “We do a lot of discussions with the industries and has involved them in our educational system,” he said.

Competency, working skills and soft-skills are the top three skills that are needed by the industries when hiring workers. To ensure that graduates of polytechnics are equipped with these skills when entering the world of work, it needs a strong synergy between polytechnics and industries.

“The synergy is beneficial for company managers like me. Our workers who graduate from this educational institution have competence and good working characters needed so that they can meet the standards required by the company,” said Budi Paryanto, Deputy Chair of the Indonesian Logistics, Posts and Express Delivery Service Association (Asperindo).

Built the synergy through apprenticeship

The synergy built is in line with the programme of the government through the Ministry of Industry, aimed to establish a link and match system between higher education institutions, such as polytechnics, and industries as a means to ensure the absorption of polytechnics’ graduates by the industries.

“To date we have ten polytechnics and all of them are directed to the demand side of the industry. We, therefore, apply a dual system that we have adapted from Germany in which 50 percent is dedicated for classroom learning and 50 percent for practical training at the industry. It is hoped that polytechnics’ graduates can be well-absorbed by the industries,” stated Dr. Haris Munandar, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry.

The apprenticeship programme of Politeknik APP Jakarta is an obligatory programme that should be taken by sixth semester students for duration of six months. However, Politeknik APP Jakarta is now in the process of applying a dual system and of extending the duration of its apprenticeship programme to one year.

“We believe that the longer we do the apprenticeship programme, the students will gain more benefits as they can further improve their working skills,” said Bayu Prabowo Sujiatmo, Head of International Trade Major of Politeknik APP Jakarta

The time extension for the apprenticeship programme is beneficial for students as it provides a greater opportunity to gain work experiences in a real working environment. In addition, it provides a working skill for students to overcome and find solutions for occupational challenges and problems they have to face at the workplaces.

“When entering the world of work, I feel the positive impact of doing a longer apprenticeship programme. When being challenged with work problems, I am more capable of dealing with them and finding solutions as taught during my school year at the polytechnic and during my apprenticeship,” told Alisha Susanto, the alumni of Politeknik APP Jakarta sharing her working experience.

Similar with Alisha, Pandu Widarma, a student majoring in logistic management of industrial electronic who was now doing his apprenticeship programme, admitted skills improvement that he has gained. “I can build my skills for my future job that is linked with my major in logistic. I believe I can apply what I have learnt at work,” said Pandu confidently.

Creating competent human resources

This synergy has made the majority of Politeknik APP Jakarta’s graduates well-absorbed by the industries. Every year, from 450 graduates, around 48 percent are recruited and employed before graduation and 80 percent out of the remaining students are being employed three months after graduation.

To further enhance the synergy between the educational institutions and industries, Secretary General Haris Munandar called for all the industries to take part in the development of human resources. “The synergy between educational institutions and industries should not be seen as a cost or a burden. This is an investment for the industries,” he exclaimed.

The same calling was also stated by Asperindo. “We wish that more associations will be more involved in the plug and play process. This can help building a long term partnership between the world of education and the industry,” said Budi.

Kazutoshi Chatani, ILO’s Employment Specialist, appreciated the synergy that has been built. He emphasized that deepening partnership and collaboration between the industry and vocational education institutions could help reducing the skills mismatch. Therefore, the role of the government is important to continue supporting the synergy in order to build effective vocational education system and to reduce mismatch between the available skills and the needs of industries.

“The ILO is celebrating its 100th anniversary. We promote decent work for all through skills development. The partnership between vocational education institutions and the industries is key in responding the skills changing in the world of work and to maintain the employability of job seekers,” concluded Kazutoshi.