UNS — The Director General (Dirjen) for Vocational Education, the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemdikbud) in the Republic of Indonesia (RI), Wikan Sakarinto, Ph.D., encourages the Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta to realize the establishment of an Applied Master Program. This encouragement was delivered after the signatory of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between UNS and SMK Pancasila 1 Wonogiri, Sunday (6/12/2020).
“I am requesting UNS to submit a proposal for the establishment of an Applied Master Program. Let’s develop a vocational program to develop the legacy of Indonesia Human Resources,” he revealed.
Wikan Sakarinto, Ph.D., appreciates the partnership between UNS and SMK Pancasila 1 Wonogiri, stating that the partnership will establish a link and match ecosystem between the educational institution with the industrial world. Further, according to him, through this MoU UNS will establish a Two Year Diploma Program (D2) to facilitate the SMK Pancasila 1 graduates. This establishment will also open an opportunity to the third party (industry) to establish a collaborative vocational education curriculum.
“Developing a fast-track D2 SMK program, thus starting on the first semester of SMK, the students will receive lectures from three different types of teacher, namely the SMK teacher, UNS lecturer, and expert practitioners from industry. Therefore since the beginning of the lecture, the collaborative curriculum is designed to be completed for 4.5 years,” Wikan explained.
Further, he added that this program will allow the SMK students to have more freedom in determining the option when they are graduated. The options will be more diverse as they will be provided with competency certificate, SMK certificate, freedom to choose whether to continue education in UNS for 1.5 years or to choose Vocational Bachelor Program by skipping to 5th semester.
Prof. Jamal on this occasion appreciates the steps and encouragement given by Wikan Sakarinto, Ph.D. Prof. Jamal states that UNS has a special concern on developing Vocational education in Indonesia. He reveals that the graduates of SMK Pancasila 1 Wonogiri have a great opportunity to continue their study in UNS through a fast-track D-2 program. During their 1.5 years of study time, they will be provided with a competency certificate.
“UNS also have an LSP. Out of 26 Vocational School Study Programs in UNS, all of them must at least have 1 (one) competency certificate for the data can be recognized by the industry because they have a certificate of competency,” Prof. Jamal reveals. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti