Supporting Nadiem’s Program, Ruangguru Accepts Internships from UNP

The independent campus program initiated by the founder of Gojek, Nadiem Makarim can be one solution to the lack of digital talent in the country. The educational startup, Ruangguru also took advantage of the program by accepting student internships from Padang State University (UNP).

Ruangguru is collaborating with UNP on three things. First, opening a learning program, an internship admission path and special employment for UNP students.

“Hopefully, our initiative can prepare the entire academics of UNP and the wider community in facing various changes,” Ruangguru’s Chief of Product and Partnership Iman Usman said in a press release on Friday (6/3).

Second, Ruangguru offers various online or digital-based classes for UNP students and the general public. The company prepares online classes that focus on improving the competencies and skills of human resources (HR) that meet current needs.

Finally, all UNP academics can get hundreds of online training and courses through the Skill Academy by Ruangguru platform at special prices. Later, students who take part in the service will receive additional certification.

Skill Academy is Ruangguru’s newest platform which contains hundreds of training materials and courses in the form of video classes, which can be accessed using the internet. “We can expand access to more users in an effort to improve the quality of Indonesian human resources,” he said.

UNP Chancellor Prof. Ganefri Ph.D added the cooperation can concretely strengthen the knowledge and skills of its students. “Hopefully, this cooperation will be one of the real contributions in improving the quality of human resources,” he said.

Previously, Nadiem Encouraged Startups to Take Advantage of the Independent Learning Program

Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim also briefly encouraged startups to take advantage of the independent learning program for higher education or called an independent campus. One of them is policies related to work practices or student internships.

“Companies that have startups should not be wasted (this free learning program). They have a chance a year, “Nadiem said at the 2019 Digital Economy Summit event in Jakarta, late last month (27/2). All students in Indonesia have the opportunity to apply for internships at companies, including startups.

“Not only in Indonesia but the world. Internship work, “he said. He hopes that the developers will help the free learning program. You do this by submitting a request to participate through the official Ministry of Education and Culture platform, then selecting the university.

Later, the ministry will encourage practitioners to teach on campus. “We encourage this,” Nadiem said.

The developers can prepare artificial intelligence programs (Artificial Intelligence / AI), boot camp to cloud computing (cloud computing). That way, companies including startups can get talents that suit their needs.

Lack of HR is One of the Obstacles in Startup

During this time, the lack of digital talent has indeed become one of the obstacles for startups. In fact, based on a survey of the Indonesian E-commerce Association (idEA), national startups have to pay from IDR 210 million to IDR 1.1 billion to recruit talent at the leadership level or chief level.

It happened because of the lack of human resources in accordance with the skills needed by startups. The Association noted, in general, digital talent with the highest salary in Indonesia, namely information technology such as programmers.

Followed by management products, data or business intelligence, digital marketing, brand managers, and sales. Robert Walters Indonesia’s research results reveal startups in education, health, and financial technology (fintech) payments offering salaries of up to Rp 1.7 billion per year or Rp 141.7 million per month in 2019.

This is one of Nadiem’s ​​reasons for encouraging Startups to support the Merdeka Belajar program. With this program, it is hoped that Indonesia’s young generation is ready to welcome the 4.0 industrial revolution.