Minister P2MI Wants ULM Migrant Centre to Become Hub for Developing Prospective Indonesian Migrant Workers

Minister for the Protection of Indonesian Migrant Workers (P2MI) Mukhtarudin wants the Migrant Centre at Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) to become a hub for developing prospective Indonesian migrant workers (PMI) so they have competence and are ready to compete in the global market. “This is ULM’s task to provide capacity building according to the needs of the global labour market,” said Mukhtarudin when inaugurating the ULM Migrant Centre in Banjarmasin on Tuesday. He stressed that the paradigm of Indonesian migrant workers has changed from previously being synonymous with domestic helpers to now having more job opportunities open in the formal and professional sectors. Mukhtarudin noted that Indonesian migrant workers have filled various formal sectors in a number of countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and regions in the Middle East and Europe. For this reason, ULM’s role through the Migrant Centre can provide foreign language training, technical skills, and competency certification that meet the needs of the international labour market. “ULM is the first higher education institution in Kalimantan to have a Migrant Centre; it will become a pilot for developing the migrant worker ecosystem in the Borneo region,” he said. Meanwhile, ULM Rector Prof Ahmad Alim Bachri added that the ULM Migrant Centre is designed as an overseas employment information service centre that provides access for students, alumni, and the general public to learn about job opportunities in various countries. There are four main services: information on overseas job opportunities and safe migration procedures, skills training and foreign language proficiency, competency certification services according to international work standards, and job matching and worker placement according to global market needs.