UI boosts village apparatus capability through 'Village Heads Enter Campus' programme

Universitas Indonesia (UI) has affirmed its commitment as a collaborative campus in providing a quality educational platform to boost the capability of village apparatus through the ‘Kepala Desa Masuk Kampus’ (KDMK) programme. UI Vice Rector for Research, Innovation, Students and Alumni, Hamdi Muluk, stated that a smart village will only be realised through the synergy of campus scientific methods and local field wisdom to realise the six pillars of impactful village governance. He stressed the importance of an ‘unlocking’ process to open the untapped potential of village leadership through this programme. He added that the programme’s success is not measured by certificates, but by real change in the community through a domino effect starting from an intensive bootcamp, the execution of change projects in the village over 6–8 weeks, to a social audit by residents.

Home Affairs Minister Tito Karnavian said the KDMK programme aims to standardise the managerial competence, public leadership, and policy literacy of village heads who have varied educational backgrounds, with around 61 per cent being high school graduates. Through this intensive programme targeting hundreds of village heads from various regions, UI is initiating the standardisation of competencies to strengthen the foundation towards a smart village, while shaping modern public leaders capable of managing administration professionally for the welfare of citizens. The Minister appreciated UI’s breakthrough, which he deemed crucial for preventing development inequality between cities and villages. Tito highlighted the importance of strengthening villages by reflecting on the extreme urbanisation phenomena in Japan and Seoul, which triggered population shrinkage and caused rural areas to die out. He further explained that the Ministry of Home Affairs specifically chose to cooperate with UI as Indonesia’s top university with formidable academic quality. Through the leadership, management, and innovation modules taught here, he hopes this collaboration can enhance the abilities of village heads, so that the management of development budgets from the central government can be executed transparently, accurately, and provide real contributions to the community.