'Schools not in sync with job market'

Desy Nurhayati and Erwida Maulia, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Education Minister Bambang Soedibyo said the government needed to synchronize fields of studies in schools and universities with the demand for labor in the market.

He said universities should reduce the quota for students in schools which have not "sold well" in the labor market.

"Programs that are demanded by the market can increase their quota," he said during a three-day Education Ministry national working meeting that ended here Wednesday.

"We also have to open more fields of studies that sell well in the market and not open new schools or new universities arbitrarily."

Speaking at the meeting's close, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono called on the education and industry sectors to work together with the government to reduce the increasing unemployment rate.

"The qualification of university graduates is still mismatched with the market demand," Yudhoyono said.

"Therefore, we have agreed to establish better and continuous coordination.

"We have conducted some studies to analyze the requirement of industry within the next five to 10 years."

Bambang said vocational schools could answer to market demands better than high schools and suggested regions open better focused vocational schools.

"Provinces like Bali or Yogyakarta, for example, can open more tourism, art or culture vocational schools, while those having an industrial or agricultural basis can open industry and agriculture-based vocational schools," he said.

The ministry said it was working toward creating a school market made up of 60 percent high schools and 40 percent vocational schools in each region.

"All provinces in Java Island and others like Bali, East Kalimantan and Gorontalo have exceeded the target, but others have yet to meet it," Bambang said.

"So we suggest that the latter build more vocational schools if they want to add the number of their high schools, or they can convert ordinary schools to vocational schools."

He also said diploma, polytechnic and professional programs could sell better in the labor market and suggested schools open more of these programs.

According to data from the Central Bureau of Statistics, the number of unemployed people holding undergraduate degrees nearly tripled from 183,629 in 2006 to 409,890 in 2007.

The number of unemployed holding three-year diplomas also nearly tripled from 94,445 to 179,231, while the number of unemployed holding one-year and two-year diplomas increased from 130,519 to 151,085.

In total, the number of unemployed graduates from universities or academies increased from 408,593 in 2006 to 740,206 in 2007.