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On this occasion, the “Mutual Vocational Academic Excellence Agreement” was signed by ITS Surabaya, NTUST Taiwan, University Malaysia Perlis (UNIMAP), Kumamoto University Japan, Polman Bandung and Polman Astra Jakarta. Tony Harley Silalahi, Director of Polman Astra also present at the signing ceremony. The memorandum allows the institutions to do Faculty Member Exchange, Student Exchange, Exchange of academic information and materials, Exchange of Academic Publications periodically, joint Research Programs, joint conferences, International Internship Programs at the universities and industry, also other academic exchanges.
This collaboration is good opportunity for all Polman Astra civitas academicas. “Polman Astra graduates especially the mechanical engineering graduates can continue their undergraduate education at NTUST Taiwan, but they still need to go through the selection process. This collaboration create the opportunity for Polman Astra graduates to take higher education abroad.” said Abdi Telaga, one of the lecturers and member of the LPPM Polman Astra department, which also a committee at ICETASIA 2018.
Dhea Ramadhanti, a student of the Manufacturing Equipment and Production Tools study program, became the nation’s ambassador to participate in the Student Exchange program to the Philippines. The program that organized by the South Asian Ministry of Education
Organization (SEAMEO) gave Dhea an opportunity to attend lectures at Don Bosco Technical College, Manila and also the internship at Rollmaster Philippines. Polman Astra sees this collaboration as positive thing to explore and develop based on the initiatives desired by SEAMEO. As proof of commitment, on September 6-9, 2018 Polman Astra sent Tonny Pongoh to visit Don Bosco Technical College and Rollmaster Machinery where Dhea
Ramadhanti attend the lectures and the internships.
After his visit to Manila, Tonny Pongoh had positive impression, where on the first day he met with the Director of the Don Bosco One TVET Philippines, Inc., Fr. Jose Dindo S. Vitug, SDB, Tonny Pongoh tried to figure out if the collaboration can be established between the two parties, especially to improve the quality of Vocational education in both countries, some of the things discussed include the possibility of exchange program, not only for students but also for faculty members or lecturers, so there’ll be a technology sharing including the effective teaching and learning method to improve the student quality. Another thing is to explore the possibility of joint research, which certainly will accelerate the development of technology, especially in the industry in both countries.
Don Bosco Technical College currently has 18 universities throughout the Philippines, and most of them have a campus area of 6-20 hectares. For the campus in Makati, where Tonny Pongoh visits, it covers an area of 5 hectares, as wide as the new Polman Astra campus. And here all students get scholarships, where the funds come from community donations, about
90% of Don Bosco Technical College students come from poor families and mostly lives at the remote parts of the Philippines.
Not just that, Tonny Pongoh also said how impressed he was with the Automotive Laboratory in Don Bosco Technical College Makati, during the location tour. The Automotive Laboratory has 4 large rooms with space around 100-250 square meters. The first room is the Toyota Room, where they keep the various types of Toyota engines. “This is part of the Toyota Tech Program,” said Tonny Pongoh. The second room is the Room for Engine Tests, in this room there are a various sophisticated German car engine production. The third room is the Porche Car Maintenance Practice Room, inside the room, there are 6 units of Porche cars up to the Sport class and SUV for student practice. “In the last room they mentioned the
Ford Room, 6 Ford cars from the small type to the diesel engine, I saw one of them are the Razor 4 WD SUV used for practice,” said Tonny.
Another interesting thing about this Laboratory is that they have a large number of lecturers and instructors, all of them are certified. They have a 1,5 – 2 year college program and 6 months internship. And each student must undergo 3 types of examinations to get a DB certificate and TESDA Certificate (2 times).
Tonny Pongoh also visited the Machining laboratory. Inside the laboratory, he thought that the Polman Astra facilities as great as the facilities in the Don Bosco Technical College, but he saw something similiar with the Automotive laboratory, which is the large number of instructors and all of them are certified. Tonny Pongoh hopes that in the future we can exchange experiences with Don Bosco Technical College, specifically in the study programs development.
On the next day, Tonny Pongoh was accompanied by Dr. Marc L. Celis, Deputy Director of Don Bosco TVET, visited the Rollmaster Machinery Company. This company is one of the places for student internships from Don Bosco Technical College, including Dhea, to do an internship for 3.5 weeks. Tonny Pongoh was welcomed by one of the Rollmaster Machinery
management, Virgilio F. Lanzuela. The company is quite simple, according to Tonny Pongoh, but has a high commitment to support the vocational education in the Philippines because the internship is an important process to shape a character of the industry for students who works in the vocational.
