Minister of Co-operatives and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Teten Masduki suggested universities to focus on creating entrepreneurs, instead of producing fresh graduates who want to become government or private sector employees.
With entrepreneurial curriculum, the minister said, universities can prepare more-upgraded micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs).
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He pointed out, based on the ministry's data, 73 percent of young Indonesians aspire to become business players instead of employees.
Masduki explained, with the support of universities, it is hoped that MSMEs that are still on the subsistence economy scale, could upgrade themselves to produce products based on innovation, technology, and sciences.
Every year, he highlighted, Indonesia yields 3.5 million new job seekers who graduate from school to university levels, with 1.7 million of them holding bachelor degree.
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"With Indonesia's economic growth, which averages five percent each year, only two million jobs can be provided," he said.
Therefore, he said, the ministry has prepared a program targeting creating one million new entrepreneurs, considering that the percentage of Indonesian entrepreneurship is still 3.18 percent of the total MSME players of 64 million.
Masduki said the ministry targets the percentage of entrepreneurship to reach 3.95 - 4 percent by 2024.
Moreover, he said that universities need to collaborate with the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and utilize the Matching Fund Program from the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry to create research results that MSMEs can commercialize.
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Editor : Mahdani
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