Providing professional human resources development
Providing professional human resources development
During the past decade, Northeastern University (NEU), Boston, Massachusetts, U.S., in cooperation with Indonesia, conducted 21 semiannual consultations in Indonesia on the advantages of work- integrated-learning, or cooperative education (co-op). Applying the co-op concept enables employers to attract, train and retain preprofessional candidates for productive assignments. It has been widely discussed with officials and executives from various Indonesian ministries, the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, American Chamber of Commerce (Indonesia), American Embassy (Jakarta), and American-Indonesian Chamber of Commerce (New York).
Positive results include many pilot programs and placements of Indonesian undergraduate and graduate students, privately and government sponsored, as preprofessionals, in the U.S. and Indonesia through the NEU/Open Referral System: Indonesia- U.S./Global Home Country Co-op & Full-time Placement Program. As of July, 1998, it has been based at NEU, and includes 1,875 Indonesian candidates enrolled in 84 academic majors at 282 U.S. institutions. The program is open to any full-time Indonesian student who has a good grade-point average and is prequalified by the NEU program office.
In 1987, NEU implemented a pilot co-op program with the Agency for Strategic Industries and PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia. The U.S. Agency for International Development, Washington, D.C., recognized the added value of the co-op program in developing human resources in Indonesia and provided a three-year contract to NEU from 1991 to 1994 through the APEC Partnership for Education Program. Indonesia's successful model was expanded to within ASEAN. Since 1995, the co-op program has coordinated annual placements with more than 300 Indonesian students.
From 1989 through June 1998, nearly 1,200 Indonesian students have been placed with almost 400 companies, including ABB, Aetna Life Insurance, American Express, Arthur Andersen, AT&T, Citibank, N.A., Freeport Indonesia, GE, General Motors, Hyatt Hotels, IBM, Indosat, 3M, Mobil Oil, Nestle and Siemens.
When Link and Match was announced by the Ministry of Education and Culture as the new national strategy based on the concept of cooperative education, the 1st Indonesian National Executive Conference on Cooperative Education was held at the new Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology building, Jakarta, April 21, 1994. Subsequently, from 1993 to 1996, in association with NEU as technical advisor, a planning unit was established at the National Development Planning Board to conduct a workshop in six cities with representatives from 25 higher learning institutions and 140 businesses.
In order to sustain the national co-op program and the international co-op program, a new independent community association was formed during September 1997: The Council for the Development of Partnership Programs between Higher Learning Institutions and the Business Community. Indonesia is a member of the World Association for Cooperative Education.
Contact the Indonesian National Co-op Program at fax number (021) 3160691, or the Indonesian-U.S. Co-op & Full-time Placement Program at e-mail lzion@lynx.dac.neu.edu for further information. (Prof. L. Zion)
Prof. Leonard Zion is program director of Cooperative and International Education, Northeastern University, Boston and initiated the NEU relationship with Indonesia in December 1987.