Jakarta (ANTARA) - Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim has said that 172 proposals for the Vocational Matching Fund program were approved out of a total of 652 proposals submitted in 2022.
He informed that the proposals were made by 167 vocational colleges, 3,451 lecturers, and 503 partners with funding needs reaching Rp133.01 billion (about US$8.79 million). "The Matching Fund Program for vocational colleges has given a positive impact on the increase of (local products’) domestic component level (TKDN),” he said, according to a press release issued by the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry on Thursday.
The minister informed that some of the products developed through the Vocational Matching Fund program in 2021 and 2022 are ready to be commercialized. The products include an electrical door engine controller for trains developed by Madiun State Polytechnic and state-run train and railway manufacturer PT INKA, which has 45 percent TKDN, he added.
He said that another product is the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Training Unit 35 percent TKDN made by Bandung Manufacturing State Polytechnic and a private special purpose machine manufacturer PT CNC Controller Indonesia (CNCCI).
The Vocational Matching Fund Program is a funding program initiated by the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry that involves vocational colleges and business and industrial actors in overcoming various challenges in the industrial sector through the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (Freedom in Learning and Campus) ecosystem.
The program raised five priority themes in 2022, namely blue economy, digital economy, green economy, health independence, and tourism development. On the same occasion, Makarim also talked about the successful implementation of the Vocational Competitive Fund program in 2022, which managed to develop cooperation with 519 partners.
One of the projects funded by the program involved project-based learning (PBL) carried out by the Jakarta State Polytechnic through a one-semester industrial internship at PT Indonesia Power, a subsidiary of state-run electricity provider PT PLN, he said.
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Another project was a collaboration between Mejayan 1 Vocational High School (SMK), Madiun State Polytechnic, and PT INKA to implement a fast-track class of vocational diploma II, he added.
According to the ministry’s website, the Vocational Competitive Fund is a funding program to support vocational tertiary institutions in providing quality education to prepare superior human resources with the relevant technical skills and increase the absorption of the local workforce.