Indonesia has a great opportunity to form experts in the fields of electricity, industrial automation and renewable energy. To explore and exploit this potential, Indonesia received special attention from Schneider Electric Global with its Center of Excellence (CoE) program through the Country Visit Indonesia - France Education Partnership event on Tuesday (24-03-2023).
This collaborative activity between Indonesia and France was marked by the visit of the Secretary of the Directorate General of Vocational Education, Saryadi, and Schneider Electric Global Executives, namely Gwenaelle Avice Huet and Roberto Rossi at the Center for Development of Quality Assurance for Vocational Education in the Field of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering (BBPPMPV BMTI) as a facility. Center of Excellence, Cimahi.
In his remarks, Saryadi said that the CoE is a form of a strong and solid partnership between Indonesia and France.
"This CoE is a gateway to support the national agenda for Making Indonesia 4.0," said Saryadi. Saryadi also reiterated that the formation of a CoE could present competent people and industry-standard skills. This can be a way to link and match between vocational education and industry. Saryadi hopes that this collaboration can increase the commitment of all parties involved to advance vocational education.
CoE is an assistance program from the industry for quality improvement and upskilling of students and teachers. The development of the CoE at the BMTI BBPPMPV started in 2017 and is now the largest investment made by Schneider Electric Global in improving vocational education in Indonesia for electricity, industrial automation and renewable energy.
In the application of the program, professional development is led by a French expert. As for the curriculum, it is aligned with the Indonesian National Work Competency Standards (SKKNI).
Previously, the French Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education and Culture had collaborated in the education sector for more than 50 years. The cooperation that was established during this period brought extraordinary positive impacts. One of them is realized through a partnership with Schneider Electric which has invested in vocational education in Indonesia since six years ago. This collective collaboration has revitalized 184 SMK laboratory training devices. The results of the revitalization have an impact on 24,800 students, 402 teachers, and now trained technicians. In her presentation, a representative from Schneider Electric Group, Gwenaelle, said that her party had invested IDR 10 billion in training kits at the Center of Excellence facility in Cimahi which was used to finance training kits for 40 SMKs.
"Schneider Electric Global has the ambition to train 1 million youth in energy management, automation and all relevant soft skills to address future challenges and Indonesia is the largest CoE we have invested in out of 11 CoEs in the world," Gwenaelle explained in her remarks.
In line with this, the French Embassy fully supports the CoE. Stephane Dovart as the Counselor of the French Embassy said that Indonesia has strengths in the industrial and economic fields. Especially with the large number of SMKs, around 14,000. "This indicates that there are many Indonesian human resources and training can be carried out to improve their quality," said Stephane.
On the other hand, Head of BBPPMPV BMTI, Supriyono, welcomed the various forms of investment provided by Schneider Electric Global. According to him, with complete facilities, the BMTI BBPPMPV is an ideal training ground not only for vocational students and teachers in Indonesia, but also for technicians who come from abroad, such as Thailand, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries. The activity continued with a tour of the CoE facilities presented by student representatives from SMKN 1 Ciawi and Schneider Electric. Various tools presented were automation solution factory, beverage mixing and filling process.
In addition, there is also a building and energy management system as a building automation effort. No less stunning, this CoE also has solar home system facilities and a solar water pumping system which can be a solution for solar-powered electricity that is useful for electricity utilization in surrounding villages.
