Agriculture college produces mostly white collar workers
Agriculture college produces mostly white collar workers
By Prapti Widinugraheni
BOGOR, West Java (JP): The Bogor Agriculture Institute (IPB),
one of the country's most prestigious universities, has
unfortunately not lived up to its name.
The state college, the only one in the country that
specializes in the science of farming, has been churning out
mostly white collar workers looking for fixed incomes and job
security.
All the rigorous laboratory practices, training and field
trips that make up the curriculum have failed to instill a spirit
of agriculture entrepreneurship expected of graduates from such a
highly prestigious institution.
Although the general trend has long been known, its extent has
surprised and worried the college's administrators.
According to Syafrida Manuwoto, the dean of IPB's School of
Agriculture, 98 percent of the school's graduates now work as
white collar workers. They hold positions as managers, organizing
staff, educators or lecturers as well as research staff.
"Luckily, 80 percent of them still work in the agribusiness
field, and 25 percent of this in the sub-system of production,"
she said. The other 20 percent work in non-agricultural sectors,
including industry, banking, finance, journalism, trade and
services.
Syafrida made the disclosure during a seminar at the IPB
campus recently which discussed the college's contribution to
human resources in Indonesia's agriculture field.
The seminar, opened by Rector Sitanala Arsjad, is part of a
series of activities being held to commemorate IPB's 31st
anniversary.
Other speakers include Dedi Fardiaz, head of IPB's research
agency, and Sjafri Mangkuprawira, head of IPB's agency for
community support.
Although Syafrida's survey is based on graduates of the School
of Agriculture, the trend is also found in the other seven
schools of IPB. They are the schools of fisheries, veterinary,
forestry, mathematics and natural science, animal husbandry,
agriculture technology and agriculture polytechnic.
Another survey on the intention of the school's current
students revealed that the problem is partly inherent in that it
had been the students' intention all along that they want to
become white collar workers, according to Syafrida.
Job security
Another survey on the intentions of current students of the
School of Agriculture revealed that the problem is partly
inherent. Most students had always intended to become white
collar workers, according to Syafrida.
The survey found that 71 percent of her students want to work
in offices and 20 percent want to become entrepreneurs, possibly
in non-agricultural jobs. Only one percent want to start their
own businesses in agriculture. Five percent intend to continue
their studies.
Syafrida said many IPB graduates strive for jobs with the
government because the relatively low salary is compensated by
the job security and guaranteed pensions.
"These facts show that special attention must be given to get
students interested in working in agriculture," she said.
The trend is a mirror of what is happening in Indonesia as
more and more people are being pushed out of the agriculture
sector and into the industrial and service sectors.
It is a worrying trend nonetheless. Indonesia still needs a
strong agriculture sector to support its industry and also to
ensure a continued food supply to meet the demands of the ever
rising population.
The tendency for IPB graduates to look for white collar jobs
indicates that most students enrolled at the college because of
its prestige and subsidized tuition fees. The fact that it is an
agriculture college appears to be a secondary factor.
Syafrida recognizes that something is amiss in the college's
teaching methodology.
She explained that the inefficiencies were caused by the
extremely low investment in agriculture education, conflicts
between the supply of graduates and market demand, shortages in
financing and facilities, incompetent teaching staff and lack of
motivation on the part of both the students and the professors.
The majority of students, who tend to relate agriculture with
marginal farmers, consider the role of agriculture to be
declining and therefore look towards the country's rising service
and manufacturing sectors, she said.
She suggested the university, government and private sector
cooperate further to reduce these inefficiencies. The agriculture
sector, she reminded, was the backbone of Indonesia's economy in
the past, and will continue to play a major role in the future.
Research
Dedi Fardiaz, head of IPB's research agency, lamented the lack
of interests among the private business sector in taking
advantage of the college's research facility.
About 70 percent of IPB's research activities are conducted in
cooperation with government institutions and state companies. The
private sector accounts for the other 30 percent.
The government institutions have many projects but limited
human resources and experts, which IPB supplies.
The ministry of forestry has been the largest user of the
research facility, followed by the ministry of transmigration,
the office of the state minister of environment, the ministry of
agriculture and finally the ministry of social services.
The private sector prefers to cooperate in fields which give
fast, applicable outputs or finished technologies which are
easily absorbed by the market, he said. "We have yet to formulate
an effective strategy to boost cooperation with the private
sector and urge them to use our R&D services," he stressed.
Sjafri Mangkuprawira, head of IPB's agency for community
support, said the public is also placing greater demand on the
college to develop technology to meet their needs.
"We face fierce competition from other agencies which provide
similar consultative services so we have to fight to obtain a
project," he explained, "It's high time IPB exploited its
competitive edge in providing technology, facilities, human
resources and expertise to win the battle."