University diplomas still considered a status symbol

University diplomas still considered a status symbol

JAKARTA (JP): Most people in Indonesia still consider
attending university a way to enhance their social status and
treat their studies as a secondary factor, according to a senior
official of the Ministry of Education.

Such an attitude is hampering the government's ambitious "link
and match" program, which tries to conform the educational system
to the needs of industry, Bambang Soehendro, the Director General
for Higher Education said in a seminar yesterday.

"Many Indonesians still see a sarjana, or S1 graduate title
merely as a status symbol," Bambang said during the seminar which
discussed the role of private universities in improving the
quality of human resources.

A sarjana title equals a bachelor degree.

Bambang said that this attitude "is not to be blamed" because,
presently, the majority of university students in Indonesia are
the first in their families to receive the title.

"Being a (university) student is already considered an
achievement of its own," he stressed.

Thus, without regarding the actual demands of the present
labor market, students with "attitudes" encouraged by their
families enter into whatever programs schools universities offer.
They later find themselves unable to find a job, as their field
of studies do not match the demands of the market.

This has created a dilemma for the government, he said,
because on the one hand it is trying to increase the number of
university graduates but on the other hand there is an increasing
number of jobless degree-holders.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, in his
keynote address to the seminar, said it was "just impossible" to
stop people from wanting to become sarjana graduates.

Reason

He pointed out that some students he had questioned admitted
they did not have any specific reason for choosing their
respective fields and said that they studied for the sake of
studying alone.

"Some even admitted that they enrolled in a particular field
of study which is less popular so they would be sure to face the
least amount of competition," Wardiman said.

He admitted, however, that there is still no sure-fire method
for private universities to know what types of graduates are
being sought by industry.

Wardiman said a special team of officials from the ministry of
manpower and the National Development Planning Board are working
out guidelines for a national manpower planning scheme, which is
expected to help private universities determine which schools may
continue admitting students and which should not.

Bambang pointed out, however, that it was "dangerous" to
create a specific manpower-planning scheme only to fulfill the
target of the education system alone, because there is always a
time lag between the labor demand and supply.

"What is planned now should be applicable for the next five to
15 years, meaning that it is disadvantageous to keep the doors of
'saturated' schools open while we are unable to allot the
graduates," he said.

He explained that, of the current labor force of 80 million,
only 2.5 percent are university graduates and over 70 percent
have only an elementary school education, or are elementary
school drop-outs.

For Indonesia to increase the number of university graduates
by one percent, 800,000 graduates are needed. With the present
situation as it is, Indonesia is able to create 200,000
university graduates each year, which is only 0.25 percent of the
total labor force, he said.

"Only after 15 years, given a one-percent increase every four
years, can we boost the size of university graduates to six
percent, for instance. However, if the labor force exceeds 80
million in the future, then we may not be able to even reach six
percent," he said.(pwn)