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.