Germany's dual education system – the right choice for Indonesia 1

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Fri, 25 Feb 2022

The demand for bilateral cooperation of German Dual Vocational Education and Training continues to increase year to year and is expanding all across the globe. Based on a study from the Institute of Employment Research (IAB), the dual system makes it easier for graduates to start a career after completing their studies. The probability for graduates of a dual study program to be employed in the first years after graduation is 4% higher than graduates of a university. Graduates also earn about the same as a graduate of a university of applied sciences (Fachhochschule). According to the 2020 Vocational Education and Training Report by The Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), three quarters of trainees who successfully complete their training are employed by the company where they were trained. In the other words, they have excellent long-term job and career prospects. Germany has proven that people with high technical skills are just as important as people with high academic abilities.

In Indonesia, vocational graduates are seen as equal to and occasionally even in lower regard than those with a bachelor's degrees. Based on the national labor force survey data, the highest level of employment opportunities according to education completed in August 2018 – 2020, high school and university graduates have a 5-6% higher percentage of employment compared to vocational or diploma graduates. Another fact is that vocational and diploma graduates are more likely to be unemployed compared to high school or university graduates, according to the open unemployment rate based on educational background data from the Ministry of Manpower.

Indonesia can obviously improve the condition of vocational schools. However, industries have yet to put their maximum effort towards investing more into vocational schools. Currently, most cooperation built between vocational education and industry is still at the apprenticeship stage and has yet to evolve to the recruitment stage. As a result, young people still have no access to job opportunities whereas the main objective of the partnership is the recruitment of vocational education graduates. This may be one of the causes of the high number of vocational education graduates who are not recruited in the labor market compared to the graduates from academic education.

Collaborating with Germany, which has the world's greatest vocational education system as a development partner for vocational education in Indonesia, is a promising start for the future of vocational education in Indonesia. As part of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad, EKONID stands ready with the established expertise and network to help industries and vocational schools to come together and give more young Indonesian the opportunity to be skilled individuals.

"Education Indonesia" is a brand of German-Indonesian Chamber of Industry and Commerce (EKONID)

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