Indonesian Minister of Labor Yassierli speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 18, 2024. (Photo by Zulkarnain/Xinhua)

Indonesia and China have collaborated to establish a community that integrates education and industry sectors to cultivate more competent Indonesian skilled workers for industrial sectors.

The China-Indonesia Industry-Education Integration Community, launched on Wednesday, gathers 40 Chinese vocational colleges and 35 Indonesian universities, as well as 55 Chinese enterprises.

It was jointly initiated by the State University of Jakarta (UNJ), Wuxi Institute of Technology and the China-Indonesia Cultural and Educational Exchange Association.

Under the program, the Chinese education institutions will help Indonesian students, through vocational education, to improve and adopt skills that are required by the industries, particularly by the Chinese industries investing in Indonesia.

Indonesian Minister of Labor Yassierli, who attended the launch ceremony, said that the collaboration was an opportunity for Indonesia to produce skilled human resources with competence that was in line with the current industries needed.

He said one of the challenges that Indonesia is currently facing in terms of providing skilled workers was a mismatch.

"Many times, the high-level education institutions prepare human resources with skills that are not in line with what the industries need. There should be communication between the universities and the industries," Yassierli said in an interview with Xinhua on Wednesday.

Data from the Ministry of Labor showed that as of June, the employment situation in Indonesia tended to improve, with the unemployment rate slightly decreased by 0.63 percent year-on-year. With a population of nearly 300 million population, Indonesia has around 3 to 3.5 million new workers each year.

"Today's launch is just a starting step. From the Indonesian government, we hope that [the priority sectors] would be in line with our three national priority programs. First is food self-sufficiency. Second is related to energy resilience. The last is downstreaming. I see the biggest opportunity in the third sector," he said.

Rector of the UNJ, Komarudin, said in the launch ceremony that the collaboration was a good momentum for universities in Indonesia to cooperate with vocational schools in China.

"Under this collaboration, we will conduct training to Indonesian students, to make them ready to work in the industries, particularly Chinese companies," Komarudin said.

He believes that the joint program would bring benefits to both Indonesia and China, especially when it came to improving the welfare and economy in the Southeast Asia region.

Wu Huiyuan, vice president of the Wuxi Institute of Technology, said that the integration of industry and education would be the best way for cultivating high-quality technical and skilled talents.

"The collaboration will play an important role in further promoting the universities in China and Indonesia, providing what corporations need, producing high-quality employment, and optimizing the development of vocational education," she said.

Indonesian Minister of Labor Yassierli speaks during the launch ceremony of the China-Indonesia Industry-Education Integration Community in Jakarta, Indonesia, Dec. 18, 2024. (Photo by Zulkarnain/Xinhua)