Indonesia’s Minister of Communication and Information Rudiantara has encouraged state and private universities in the country to establish a Digital Economy Study Program.
According to a recent press release, the Minister highlighted that higher education institutions which will implement this program can produce academics and alumni who can become entrepreneurs and establish start-ups in Indonesia.
The aim of this is to create an ecosystem in Indonesia that will be able to contribute more for the e-commerce of the future.
Referencing from syllabus abroad
In establishing a Digital Economy Study Program, one of the critical requirements would be to implement a syllabus that is in line with the development of Indonesia’s digital economy.
Since it might be difficult to create one from scratch, the Minister volunteered and said that he is ready to help the universities obtain syllabus from abroad.
For one, creating a syllabus from scratch will require a long time. Instead, universities could use the syllabus from overseas as reference.
They can bring the syllabus to Indonesia and then adjust and tweak it to satisfy and meet the needs of the country.
Educating human resources
Having a Digital Economic Study Program in the universities is significant because it will increase the number of young Indonesians in the digital field.
This skill will be very useful for the younger generation someday, particularly since the government is developing all forms of telecommunication infrastructure throughout Indonesia to prepare it for a digital future.
Digital economy is at the forefront of the priorities of different countries around the world today.
Indonesia does not want to be left behind and so it is always thinking of ways to prepare and educate their human resources.
Digital Talent Scholarship 2019
In line with this, the Ministry is about to open registration for the Digital Talent Scholarship 2019 on 15 April 2019 for 25,000 Indonesian nationals who are not yet scholars.
As reported, the Digital Talent Scholarship Program aims to develop the knowledge as well as to improve the skills and competencies of the younger generation so that they can compete in the global arena.
The nation’s children must be trained to have special skills and competencies in technology.
The technical training will cover the fields of artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT), cyber security, digital policies, machine learning, programming, coding, graphic design and animation.
The Digital Talent Program is an effort by the government to prepare skilled talents so that Indonesia will become what it aspires to be – one of the countries with the largest digital economy in Southeast Asia by 2025.
Currently, the country is still lacking in human resources having the right qualifications. This, therefore, pushes the unicorns to look for talent abroad.
Number of required talents
But Indonesia prides itself with having the population that can meet the industry’s needs. They just need to be educated with the required skills.
The Minister shared that from 2015 until 2030, Indonesia will be requiring around 9 million digital talents or approximately 600,000 per year.
The 25,000 available slots from the Digital Talent Scholarship is still far from meeting that target, but the good thing is that Indonesia is starting somewhere in developing their people.
OpenGov Asia earlier reported on Digital Talent Scholarship to upskill Indonesians for digital industry.
The report mentioned that the Ministry was collaborating with five state universities in order to hold an educational program, or short courses of intensive training scholarships, for technicians.
These technicians can work directly in the digital industry after completing the course.