Improving Competitiveness Through Vocational and Higher Education: Indonesia’s Vision For Human Capital Development In 2019–2024

This article explores Indonesia’s readiness to upgrade its human capital in response to changes in population and economic structure in order to harness the technological advances of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The symptoms of premature deindustrialisation can be clearly observed in Indonesia, suggesting that it needs to improve its productivity to adapt to digital disruption and structural economic change. Supplyside advancement will require infrastructure and human resource development. On the production side, Indonesia will need to revitalise its manufacturing, service and resource-based sectors, treating them as value chains to be integrated into global networks. Indonesia’s education policy framework to upgrade human resources and improve the country’s competitiveness focuses on five areas: access to education; quality of education; synergies between government, industry and higher education; industry linkages; and incentives. Meanwhile, the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is forcing the Indonesian education system to instantly revolutionise its teaching methods to adapt to pandemic and post-pandemic conditions.