Kemendikbudristek Allocates Rp270 Billion For Merdeka Vocational Campus

Director of Vocational and Professional Higher Education, Directorate General of Vocational Education Kemendikbudristek, Benny Bandanadjaja, in Jakarta, Friday (28/5). (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) has prepared a budget of Rp270 billion for the Independent Learning Program 11: Vocational Merdeka Campus.

"The Rp270 billion fund includes Rp90 billion for the fast-track Vocation School-D2 program and the program for upgrading the D3 study program to an applied undergraduate (D4). Meanwhile, for the matching fund, Rp180 billion has been prepared for the development of the Center for Excellence in Technology, downstreaming of applied research products, and the start-up of vocational campuses built with industry," said the Director of Vocational and Professional Higher Education, Directorate General of Vocational Education Kemendikbudristek, Benny Bandanadjaja, in Jakarta, as reported by Antara, Friday, May 28.

For competitive funds, each proposal will be given a maximum of Rp1 billion depending on the quality of the proposal. Meanwhile, the equivalent funds must have the qualifications and conditions in accordance with the requirements. Among them must be able to reach industrial partners with contributions from in cash or in-kind funds from the industry.

The ratio of the funds that will be given is a maximum of 3:1, meaning that if the industry provides Rp1, the proposer will receive a maximum of Rp3 from the Ministry of Education and Culture depending on the quality of the proposal.

Benny said for stakeholders who want to take part in the program, technical instructions can be accessed on the ppptv-ptn.kemdikbud.go.id pages (for competitive funds) and tokoreka.id/diction (for equivalent funds).

“There are guidelines for proposal templates, how to propose and so on, of course, communication is not limited to the website, we carry out socialization and further communication if needed. Reka Shop was initiated by the Directorate General of Higher Education, in which there is a platform that brings together industry and universities," said Beny.

Currently, there are more than 31 study programs for the fast-track D-2 Vocational High School that have expressed interest. For Vocational School there are already hundreds and they must continue to propose in the form of a proposal.

Interest from the world of work, actually before the program existed, vocational schools and universities generally already had partners in the world of work or industry who had been working together. However, this policy aims to further enhance the cooperation even higher.

Previously, the collaboration was only limited to internships, now it can be added to curriculum development, where lecturers can teach and so on so that there are more forms of cooperation, fulfilling the 8+i link and match package launched by the Directorate General of Higher Education.

In line with that, Deputy Director IV of the Bali State Polytechnic for cooperation, I Wayan Arya, said that in order to attract industries to join the policy, there needed to be mutually beneficial solutions with various parties.

“If companies benefit from this cooperation, of course, they will be interested. For the fast track D2 Vocational High School, the industry does not need to prepare training, so they leave the training at the university, it will save time," said Wayan.