Short-term courses can create high-powered professionals

Short-term courses can create high-powered professionals

Debbie A. Lubis
Contributor
Jakarta

"Higher education and business are basically interdependent.
One needs money to produce educated people, and the other needs
educated people to produce money," goes a saying from Milton S.
Eisenhower in Words of Wisdom.

Producing professionals still, of course, relies on formal
educational institutions. But providing know-how on management
within a short period of time is another story. Many educational
institutions in big cities, especially in Jakarta, are trying to
meet this challenge.

They try to cater for the growing demand of young and senior
executives who crave more competence, especially in business
management skills.

"I'm glad that I can run my business well, although I'm only a
high-school graduate," Hidayat, 48, said. He acknowledged that
taking three, short management courses had helped him better to
manage his small advertising agency in Tebet, South Jakarta, and
five employees.

Crisis, stiff competition and the application of more advanced
technology have forced businesspeople these days to become "real
professionals", at least in their own fields.

Through short-term managerial courses, they can learn how to
renew their business strategies and quickly adapt to rapid
changes and challenges in economics and technology. The courses
usually come in the form of a variety of programs, subjects,
rates and periods of study.

In general, the courses offer regular classes for individuals,
while a special class is referred to as "in-house company
training". Both are available every month. Most of the packages
last from two days to one month, with tuition fees ranging from
Rp 1.5 million to Rp 10 million (about US$1,175). As the classes
start in the morning, most of the educational institutions
provide free meals and coffee breaks for participants.

The participants may choose one course subject from dozens of
options under the category "core knowledge and skills", such as
human resource management, marketing management, finance and
accounting management, strategic management, operations
management, decision making and special topics.

"Classes for in-house training have been much in demand
recently, while the most favorite subject for regular classes is
good corporate governance," Sundari, a public relations officer
from the economics management institute at the University of
Indonesia (LMUI), said. Most of its clients work as senior staff
in banks.

LMUI was established in 1963. It offers 22 course subjects for
regular classes, with tuition fees ranging from Rp 1.75 million
to Rp 3.5 million. The class can run if 15 students are
registered; if there are more than 20, the class will be run in a
hotel.

There are seven subjects available for in-house-training
classes, with tuition fees charged per session (up to Rp 1
million per 60 minutes) or per participant (up to Rp 1.7 million
per person) and one class may have a maximum of 25 participants.

Sundari said that the programs were available for those who
had graduated from senior high school and the participants would
receive a certificate only if they attended all sessions in the
chosen program.

Educational background, however, is not an essential
requirement for the participants of managerial and strategic
short courses at Prasetiya Mulya Business School. It has offered
33 subjects for regular classes and 40 for in-house training
classes within the past 15 years.

The classes usually last for two days to four days. The
tuition fee for a managerial short course ranges from Rp 1.4
million to Rp 1.7 million, while the strategic short course fee
is from Rp 2.3 million to Rp 3.2 million.

The courses use practical and participative methods, in which
the participants get involved in lecture sessions, case studies
and group discussion. In some programs, role-play, video
recording and computer simulation are also applied. Course
participants receive a certificate only if they have attended at
least 70 percent of the sessions.

Prasetiya Mulya's charges for in-house training standard
classes are based on the number of participants. At least 15
participants should attend the class if it is run at the
Prasetiya Mulya building, or 24 participants if it is outside.

A lecture session in the company can last for a maximum of
three hours, including a question-and-answer session.

Meanwhile, the PPM Institute of Management offers around 69
subjects in its Executive Development classes, which are held in
the evening.

The classes usually last for 12 hours to 40 hours and the fee
ranges from Rp 2 million to Rp 3.75 million.

Established in 1969, PPE programs had served more than
320,000 participants by December 2001. Educational background is
not a requirement for this program.

PPM also offers Special Executive Development programs -- or
in-house training -- that are run on the basis of a training-
needs survey. By the end of 2000, the institute had catered to
more than 310,000 participants.

The packages consist of eight-hour lecture session/seminars;
standard training that can be modified from 12-hour to 40-hour
sessions to eight-hour ones; and an eight-hour, specially
designed training session.

To cater for the needs of young managers, PPM provides a five-
week program, the "Young Managers' Program".

With a fee of Rp 9.9 million, the program runs from Monday to
Friday, starting at 3:30 p.m. and finishing at 9 p.m. The fee
includes lesson materials, meals, snacks and beverages, a
certificate and a graduation ceremony.

Fresh university graduates (S1) who have no job experience and
diploma three (D3) graduates who have worked for three years can
enter the program. "The program is designed for those who have
worked at initial line management level. The participants are
taught how to produce a comprehensive business plan and put
corporate strategies into action," PPM customer officer Rini
Baroto said.

The sessions are delivered through discussion, study visits to
companies, case studies and simulation. The course aims to enable
its participants to build teamwork, develop good leadership
skills and personality traits, improve their problem-solving
skills and become better acquainted with supervision techniques.

To attract more participants to enter their managerial short
courses, some educational institutions offer discounts. Prasetiya
Mulya offers a 7.5 percent discount to participants who
pay the course fee two weeks before classes begin, while PPM
gives a 5 percent discount to those who pay three weeks
beforehand. Both institutions also offer fee exemption to one
student if a company sends ten or more participants to different
short courses.

Participants usually have to pay a fine of Rp 100,000 if they
cancel a course a minimum of three days before classes are due to
begin and a fine of 50 percent of the course fee or loss of total
money paid if the cancellation occurs on the first day of the
course.