R and D vital to industry, official says
R and D vital to industry, official says
By Prapti Widinugraheni
MANADO, North Sulawesi (JP): Indonesia still has a long way to
go while before its industrialists are fully aware of the need
for research and development programs, a senior government
official says.
Jorlin Pakpahan, the ministry of education and culture's
Director for Vocational Education said this week that more
companies are establishing research and development (R and D)
departments as part of their long-term investment.
"Most of the industries in Indonesia were started not by
industrialists but by traders, who only thought about the fastest
way to gain a profit. They don't see research and development
as an integral part of costs and investments. Industrialists, on
the other hand, look beyond that, into the future," Pakpahan told
The Jakarta Post. He was accompanying Minister of Education and
Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro who visited the Tondano Handicraft
Industry Vocational School.
The school, similar to other vocational schools across the
country, is equivalent to a senior high school.
Pakpahan said that the lack of awareness was one of the
reasons why not all industries openly welcomed the government's
call for them to allow students of vocational schools to work at
their companies on a temporary basis.
However, he was convinced that the pressure from
globalization and economic liberalization would force such
industries to admit that human resources will be the key to
determine the survival and success of an industry, with research
and development playing a major role.
"We shouldn't worry because we are only at the first stages of
industrialization. In the future, there is no way
(industrialists) can avoid it," he said.
With the development of research and development, Pakpahan
said, the link and match or dual system introduced by Wardiman
would be even more effective, giving mutual benefit to both
industry and students of vocational schools.
"School can provide students the theories and basic
knowledge of a certain field, but can't teach actual professional
skills. Any efforts to do this by the school would only serve as
simulation -- which would be very different from the real thing.
We have to face it: the system of values in the industrial world
is often very different from that in the education world,"
Pakpahan said.
He pointed out that science and technology developed more
rapidly in industry than in schools. "Without the link and match
system, and with the increasing trend for research and
development in companies, schools will always be a step behind
the industry," Pakpahan stressed.