Less Than 5 Percent Of 257 Million Indonesians Have A Bachelor's Title, The Vice President Hopes An Increase

JAKARTA - Vice President Ma'ruf Amin hopes that the number of people who are studying higher will increase. One of them is through the Indonesian student alumni movement abroad to provide inspiration.

This right was conveyed by the Vice President referring to data from the Ministry of Home Affairs (Kemendagri) in 2022 which states that residents with doctoral education are only 0.02 percent; masters are around 0.3 percent; and undergraduates are less than 5 percent.

"Based on data from the Dukcapil of the Ministry of Home Affairs in 2022, of the 275 million Indonesians, only about 0.02 percent of residents are undergraduate education, while those with master's degree education are around 0.3 percent and less than 5 percent of citizens are undergraduate education. So, a total of only 6 percent of Indonesians are pursuing higher education," said the Vice President at the opening of the event "Alumni Connect Indonesian Student Association (PPI) Dunia" in Jakarta, Friday, May 26, confiscated by Antara.

This means, continued the Vice President, the number of Indonesian citizens (WNI) who received tertiary education is still very small. Therefore, he hopes that this figure will continue to rise with the role of PPI alumni as driving the advancement of education in Indonesia.

"I hope that PPI programs and activities can inspire more and more Indonesians to pursue the highest education to abroad, then return to Indonesia to build the nation and state," he said.

He also asked the World PPI members to refer to the 2020-2050 Indonesian Population Projection regarding the demographic bonus in Indonesia.

"Our country is projected to enjoy a demographic bonus from 2030 to 2040, with a productive age population of 180 million people or about two-thirds of the total population," he said.

This requires optimal planning and formulation of strategies from many lines so that the demographic bonus becomes a blessing for the country, not the other way around which is a disaster because it causes a lot of unemployment.

"I look forward to the contribution of thinking and works from World PPI alumni in improving the quality of Indonesian human resources in all corners of the country and creating digital talents that are needed to answer various challenges of the future," he said.

With the knowledge and experience they have during school and living abroad, Ma'ruf Amin believes that there will be many contributions that PPI World alumni can make to the community and state.

"I am proud that they returned to Indonesia, returned to Indonesia to serve in Indonesia. I think our capital in building Indonesia and as alumni we also hope that they will guide their younger siblings who are still unfinished; so that we will continue to get them, namely Indonesian students who are abroad and in turn they will return to Indonesia and more and more days," said the Vice President.

The "World Alumni Connect PPI" event was attended by 54 foreign student alumni bond organizations from 62 PPI countries who attended on May 25-27, 2023.