JAKARTA: Astra Manufacturing Polytechnic (Polman Astra) supports the development of vocational in Indonesia to be match with the program launched by the President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo that make vocational as the main key of economic progress.
The support for vocational education can be seen in the number of graduate students from Polman Astra which increasing from its establishment in 1995 to the present, and that is 3.119 associates experts. The graduates are from 24 provinces throughout Indonesia.
From the total graduates, on October 31, 2017 Polman Astra will organize a XVIII graduation for 197 associate experts from 14 provinces throughout Indonesia.
From 197 graduates, there are 64 students receiving Astra achievement scholarships. This is a part of Astra’s contribution to vocational education in Indonesia. With Astra achievement scholarships, Astra Polman students who come from the middle to lower economic class, can afford the education, pay the tuition fees and get a monthly allowance.
This shows the consistency and commitment of Astra represented by Astra Bina Ilmu’s active role in developing human resources through Polman Astra, especially in the manufacturing, that also as a responsibility to the Nation and the State of Indonesia.
The XVIII graduation was led by Chairman of the Trustees Board of the Astra Bina Ilmu Foundation, Johannes Loman and also attended by the Chairman of the Region III Private Universities Coordinator, Dr. Ir. Illah Saillah, MS. Astra Bina Ilmu Foundation is an institution that supervise the Polman Astra.
Other than Astra scholarships, 9 students of the Production Engineering and Manufacturing Process study program received full tuition assistance from PT Astra Agro Lestari Tbk, 7 students with a grade point average above 3 received the Astra Honda Motor Foundation scholarship, 25 students received scholarships from the Yayasan Pelayanan Kasih A&A Rachmat through PT Daya Adicipta Motora, 13 students received Private Universities Coordinator scholarships, 20 students received Amaliyah Astra scholarships.
This is match with Astra’s corporate philosophy, which is the first point of Catur Dharma, and that is Being a Beneficial Property for the Nation and the State of Indonesia and also the goal that has been declared, which is to become the Pride of the Nation in 2020.
Astra’s contribution can be seen from the number of graduates that works in Astra Group in the last 5 years, on average 60.91% works at the Astra Group and the rest of them are works at the industries outside the Astra Group, or continue their studies to the Bachelor degree.
Director of Polman Astra, Tony Harley Silalahi said the number of graduates that works in Astra Group gave an indication of 4 things: Polman has matchs its curriculum with business needs, quality of the education process, Astra Group support for Polman Astra and development of business needs.
In mid 2017, a survey created by Polman Astra on Astra Group companies that has Polman Astra graduates as their workers, showed 80% satisfied with the quality of Polman Astra graduates. Without industry involvement, Polman Astra will lose its ability to produce high-quality graduates.”
“Never stop learning, because according to the “Future Job Report” published by the World Economic Forum, 35% of the jobs will change in the current period until 2020 along with technological developments. Those who develop and learn new knowledge and can implement it in work and life, he will be the one who transforms society in the future.” said Tony.
Chairman of YABI Board of Trustees, Johannes Loman, added that Astra Polman graduates continue to bring Astra values and culture where graduates should be able to offer the best solutions and services to the customers, always respect others and collaboration, and always strive for the best by innovating.
Johannes also emphasized that as one of the best and largest companies in the country which has 213 subsidiaries and more than 215.000 employees, the Astra Group needs a lot of skilled workers to support its business growth, particularly in the Automotive, Financial Services, Heavy Equipment and Mining, Agribusiness, Infrastructure and Logistics, Information Technology and Property.
By pursuing high-quality vocational education at Polman Astra, the innovative character of students can be developed and reflected in the results of their innovations during industry internships calculated through the NQI (Net Quality Income) produced by graduates who this year reached around Rp 200 Billion.
NQI is the nominal value of rupiah that approved by the Industry, where students go through their final assignment to make improvements for the industry. Internship patterns like this isn’t only to encourage the students to innovate but also provide benefits to the industries where they do internship. This year the graduates doing the internships at 26 Astra Group companies and 1 Small Medium Enterprises under the supervision of the Dharma Bakti Astra Foundation and 2 other Astra Foundations. (TFL)