UNS — The Vocational School (SV) of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held a general lecture on ‘The Synergy of Vocational Education with the Industry’ on Friday (28/5/2021). The general lecture was held online and offline through the Zoom Cloud Meeting application with almost 250 participants. The offline session in SV UNS Hall will limit participants to around 30 people.
The Director-General (Dirjen) of Vocational Education Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Wikan Sakarinto, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., was invited as the speaker. The Rector of UNS, Vice-Rectors, Deans, and Directors in UNS attended the general lecture. This event provided a facility for UNS academic members to have a dialogue and direct discussion with the Director-General.
In his opening remark, the Dean of SV UNS, Drs. Santoso Tri Hananto, M.Acc., stated that currently, SV UNS has 24 programs which consist of 22 three years diploma programs (D3) and two four years (D4) programs. At its young age, SV UNS does not want to be left behind and improved its quality through program upgrades from three years to four years (applied bachelor). Therefore, SV UNS targets to upgrade seven diploma programs (D3) into D4. “In 2023, we have a target to complete the upgrade process for all 22 D3 programs into D4. If it is possible, we will attempt to reach the target by 2022,” Santoso stated.
The Rector of UNS, Prof. Jamal Wiwoho, shared his concern over student’s perception that their success starts with the bachelor’s degree. This concern inspired Prof. Jamal to support SV UNS efforts in upgrading its D3 programs into D4. This target is also supported by Wikan Sakarinto, who stated that the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka curriculum strongly supports the implementation of this improvement. He thinks SV has excellence in that it creates graduates with strong soft skills and hones student hard skills.
Wikan also highlighted the D3 graduates who need 2.5 years to get transferred into a bachelor’s degree. He thinks 2.5 years is a long period and many industries are interested in hiring bachelor graduates instead of a diploma. “Therefore, we need to encourage D3 to be upgraded into Applied Bachelor,” he said.
The upgrade is considered as a solution for the concerns. Applied Bachelor’s degree also benefits the industries as the employers of SV graduates. “I appreciated UNS Vocation works and its commitment to be Vocational Bachelor in 2023,” Wikan concluded. Humas UNS
Reporter: Alinda Hardiantoro
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
