1.1 Million Graduates Unemployed, Universities Deemed Unable to Produce Job-Ready Graduates

Deputy Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology (Wamendiktisaintek), Fauzan, has highlighted the persistently high unemployment rate among university graduates in Indonesia. Based on 2025 data, approximately 1.1 million graduates are recorded as not yet having secured employment. According to him, this situation indicates that higher education has not been fully able to meet the demands of the working world. He made these remarks at the 2026 Employer Forum organised by the University of Indonesia (UI). He observed that this phenomenon is caused by graduates entering an ‘ambiguous world’. The ambiguous world he refers to is when university graduates formally hold a degree but lack sufficient competence, particularly in addressing real challenges in the field. ‘It means they have a degree, but they enter an ambiguous world. Why ambiguous? Because their competence is insufficient to dissect the problems around them,’ Fauzan said at the Sutasoma Hotel, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (24/6/2026). Fauzan highlighted that the cause of the high graduate unemployment rate is that some universities have not been able to translate educational relevance to the dynamics of the times. Some still use outdated teaching patterns that are no longer aligned with industry needs. ‘Higher education in Indonesia is still using old patterns. The dynamics of the environment and society are not used as a reference in developing higher education,’ he said. Fauzan also noted a reversal from past phenomena. Previously, industries sought the best talent, but now millions of human resources are competing to find industries. He has seen firsthand that the majority of university graduates are often considered by industry as workers who are ‘ready to be trained’, not ‘ready to work’. ‘On one hand, we (universities) say our graduates are ready to work, but the reality for industry is that they are only ready to be trained. Ultimately, industry has to expend more energy to retrain these graduates,’ he explained. Fauzan encouraged universities to establish Centres of Excellence (CoE). A CoE is a type of specific professional class, for example, a ‘Shrimp Professional Class’ or a ‘Koi Professional Class’. Such classes could be designed directly with industry so that graduates are immediately absorbed. In closing, Fauzan expressed hope that UI and other major universities can produce graduates to seek work domestically. Furthermore, he also hopes universities can produce geopolitical assets. ‘I imagine if Indonesian workers were in several countries and took strategic sectors in technology, policy, and health. That would be a strategic asset to support domestic geopolitics. Indonesia would be known to the world because of its great people,’ he concluded.