Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine February 2015 | Page 148

146 Advertorial © Shutterstock PRIVATE EDUCATION ON THE RISE IN INDONESIA The demand for high-quality private education in Indonesia is quickly rising as the country goes from strength to strength economically. Colours casts an eye over the source of this demand and the leading institutions providing the supply. Based on current economic trends, Indonesia is on track to become the seventh-largest economy in the world by 2030, from the 16th largest today. Indonesia is currently in the throes of this rapid transformation, and in this vibrant, evolving economy a good education is in high demand. On its economic journey upward, the availability and development of higherquality education will play a key role. In Indonesia’s economic landscape today, skilled workers are highly sought after. Despite the growing number of educated and skilled workers, supply is likely to fall short of demand. Indonesia’s workforce has changed dramatically since independence, when nearly all Indonesian workers were informally employed in agriculture. And as agriculture’s share of the Indonesian economy shrinks and growth in service sectors requires more educated workers, analysts expect that by 2030 these sectors will require 90 per cent of their workforce to be semi-skilled or skilled, according to leading business and economics research consultancy the McKinsey Global Institute. This demand is reflected in the boom in higher education institutions in the past few decades. The number of higher education institutions in Indonesia has risen from 10 in 1950 to over 2,000 today. Developing sufficient human capital to support robust economic growth is necessary to avoid a skills gap. Private education institutions such as UPH, Bina Nusantara, Prasetiya Mulya and National High Jakarta School are leading the way in providing demand-driven curriculums and creating new, flexible education pathways with links to and partnerships with international colleges and universities around the world. In addition to offering Indonesian students world-class facilities, private education institutions in Indonesia are helping to raise the standard of teaching significantly, with an emphasis on attracting and developing great teachers from home and abroad. As a result Indonesia is also fast becoming a popular destination for international students, creating a global environment for students of every nationality, and equipping and preparing graduates for global success. Indeed, private education institutions are stirring up the market and helping to put a dampener on the looming skills gap that the country faces. With tens of millions of people joining the job market every year, competition is particularly tight for jobs in multinational corporations, which makes earning a degree from a respectable institution crucial for a graduate’s employability.