Skills training providers
Competency standards have been commonly implemented outside the higher education sector, particularly for skills training programs in Indonesia. These programs are mostly administered under the auspice of Directorate General of Early Childhood and Non Formal Education under the Ministry of Education and Culture (MoEC) and Directorate General of Training and Product under MoM50.
Nonetheless, various technical ministries and industries also undertake skills trainings under their
Annex-E: International Workshop on Higher Education Reform 2015 training units (Pendidikan dan Pelatihan). The latest figure acquired in 2014 indicates that under MoEC and MoM 27,321 course and training providers are registered. Competency Based Trainings The concept of competency based training was developed under MoM after the Law on Manpower was enacted in 2003. A competency is defined as a worker’s ability to perform job as required by employer. In the implementation, BNSP provides license to professional certification bodies (PCB) to carry out the certification process. PCBs are legal entities established by industry and/or professional association. The Government Regulation 31/2006 on National Skills Training System was issued as a platform for the integrated competency based training system. The system describes three pillars of competency based training system, namely competency standard, competency based skills training program, and competency certification. The 3 different competency standards (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) used are the National Competency Standard (NCS), international standards, and special standards.
The development of NCS involves MoM, other relevant technical ministries, and the Committees of Competency Standard. Competency Based Training (CBT) is a training approach which includes modules, training aids, methods, and instructors. The approach aims to apply competency based standards and implement principles to ensure a graduate acquires competencies as required by the NCS, and is eligible to receive the Certificate of Competency.
By the end of 2014, 406 packages of competency standards (SKKNI) have been developed for the main economic sectors. The number of SKKNI yet to be developed is still very large, considering the rapid advancement of technology in the industries. Jobs in information and communication technology as well as logistics are few examples of new occupations in the market that require definitions of competency standards. In the period of 2005 to 2014, the accumulated number of workers certified by BNSP was approximately 2.1 million. In order to achieve the government target of 10 million certified workers in 2019, a large number of additional packages are needed in the near future.
Programs administered by MoEC had been in operation for many years when the IQF decree was issued. Therefore a significant proportion of the structure has to be adjusted to comply with the new IQF standards. The learning outcomes also need adjustment, particularly shifting the emphasis from educational achievements to more skills formation.
Recognition of Prior Learning
Although Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) has been widely practiced in the industries to recognize employee’s competencies for his/her career promotion, a national standard procedure is relatively new for Indonesia. The recent initiative to implement RPL in Indonesia aims to widen access to education by providing the opportunity for employed workers to pursue further qualifications by reentering formal higher education. Their experiences could be used to waiver some of the mandatory course work. Similar procedures are applicable for valuing qualification improvement of teaching staff who apply for permanent faculty status. A more important benefit is in capitalizing the expertise of industrial practitioners, who, without an RPL process will not be eligible to become lecturers in vocational programs. In order to facilitate RPL implementation in higher education, the MoEC 73/2013 decree was issued. The decree promotes RPL for life-long learning and RPL for recognizing professionals with qualifications at level 8 and 9 to become lectures. However, an operational guideline to recognize one’s expertise and assign individuals in the institution’s personnel system is required to assist implementation.
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In 2013 the Directorate of Learning and Student Affairs MoEC launched a pilot program for RPL in selected study programs in public polytechnics. Evaluation after one year shows that in general the results have not been as good as expected and a significant effort is still needed to improve the design and implementation mechanism in the future.
Defining learning outcomes
The Presidential Decree on IQF requires all education programs, as well as courses and skill training offerings, to adjust their learning outcomes to reference the IQF. At the beginning of this study, descriptors in 75 study programs in 29 subjects / professions, within the 8 priority sectors, have been drafted; and 25 descriptors were added to the draft at the end of 2014.
Since the quality of education is significantly diverse, some less developed institutions propose to have tiered national standards, whereby the standards are set differently for them. Unfortunately such a proposal is not a commonly accepted practice in the global platform in which Indonesia is going to participate. The decree revives the concept of competency standards in courses and training. Courses and training that previously used competency standards which emphasized education achievement, now should shift to skills formation. In order to improve transparency, the qualifications and competencies of a graduate should be stated in a document, termed a Diploma Supplement, as required by MoEC Decree 81/2014. Although the reputation of the issuing institution is still crucial in valuing the supplement, it is a good intention toward developing trust and confidence.
Interim findings and analysis
The study team conducted several workshops with relevant stakeholders in each of the 3-piloted fields. The team also took several important stakeholders to overseas study trips to Hong Kong, Ireland, and England. The following sections present the summary of the findings and analysis this study.Issues on synergy
Segmented developmentActivities in the development of qualification framework have been conducted by several ministries, professional associations, and industries, with limited or no coordination. The three main players are the Ministry of Manpower51, Ministry of Education and Culture52, and Ministry of Research, Technology, and
Higher Education. Until recently the development of qualification framework could be considered as segmented, between the education sector (under MoEC) and the skills training sector (under MoMT). Under MoM the process of certification has been conducted long before the decree on IQF is issued, using the Law on Manpower 13/
The segmented development increases cost, drives the system into cumbersome bureaucracy due unnecessary duplication, and slowing down Indonesian’s preparation to enter economic integration. Weak coordination
Providers under the MoM use the term “training”, whilst those under MoEC use the term “course”. In practice these two terms are very similar, since the curricula are quite similar. Most providers under both ministries have to separately register to MoM and MoEC. Each of the two ministries established
51 Until October 2014 was called the Ministry of Manpower and Transmigration (MoMT)
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separate units for registration, accrediting process, conducting assessment and certification process. Many providers submit registration to both ministries, particularly to acquire recognition and funding assistance from both sides.
Policy and decision makers in the government bureaucracy tend to avoid issuing regulations outside its jurisdiction. In some aspects, however, it is difficult to contain analysis within a certain sector. Hence it is not uncommon to find overlapping, sometime even conflicting, regulations issued by these 2 ministries. Other ministries and agencies add to the complexity of the problem by issuing regulations with limited coordination with these 2 major player ministries.
Mobility of skilled workers is one of the consequences of economic integration. Without a single national agency coordinating the regulations, it will be difficult for Indonesia to cope with the challenges of regulating the manpower market.
Lack of national standards as a reference
In some sectors, the implementation of competency standards in the relevant industries is already in the advanced stage. Tourism is an example of such sector, whereby standard in competencies have been implemented long before the IQF was decreed. On one hand such advanced stage benefits the dissemination process of IQF, but on the other hand it requires a significant effort to harmonize the existing standards with the IQF. When the industries in this sector began to implement the standard of competencies, a national standard to be used as a reference did not exist that they had no choice but to develop one by themselves.
As a selected sector in this study, the tourism sector is perhaps a unique case, since Indonesia is currently considered as already in the advanced stage compared to other ASEAN member countries. Some issues in this sector need to be resolved in order to comply with IQF. They are nomenclatures that do not fit with the national standards as required by the IQF, job titles defined by providers do not confirm with the job titles regionally agreed upon in the ASEAN MRA, and learning outcomes that do not comply with the IQF norms. In this study significant efforts have been given to provide assistance to the providers through series of FGDs with stakeholders to resolve the problems.
The case illustrates the critical role of national standards in the development and implementation of a qualifications framework. Without national standards as a reference, the development of standard of competencies becomes fragmented, segmented, and uncoordinated.