Higher Education Minister Reports to Prabowo on Workforce Preparation for Downstreaming Industries

Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Technology, who also serves as Head of the Mineral Industry Agency, Brian Yuliarto, met with President Prabowo Subianto at the Presidential Palace in Jakarta. Brian stated that the meeting discussed the acceleration of downstream industries, including a national car programme. “The essence is how to accelerate the downstream industries requested by the President, along with Danantara, covering many programmes. Starting from pharmaceuticals, the development of the pharmaceutical industry, the development of a national car, national motorcycle, and others. These downstreaming programmes can be accelerated,” Brian said after the meeting at the Palace on Thursday (25/6/2026). Furthermore, Brian admitted he was instructed to ensure that human resources from university graduates are ready to fill positions in these downstream industries. According to him, the industry will require a significant number of workers. “We are asked to ensure that our human resources, our university graduates, can truly meet the workforce needs for developing these downstream industries, which are not insignificant. Starting from minerals, then there is aquaculture, aqua farming, that is also substantial,” he said. Brian also mentioned that Prabowo wants his ministry to ensure the required experts match the necessary competencies. He cautioned that the industries being fast-tracked for development must not face a shortage of human resources. “We must not let these industries, which are being boosted and developed rapidly, later experience a shortage of human resources, or have human resources that are not suitable. For example, if we need many electrical engineering experts, but the graduates do not match. So we are asked to calculate this, to ensure we can meet the needs of these downstream industries,” Brian added.