MAY 2022
SWISSCONTACT - STED, LOMBOK - WEST NUSA TENGGARA , INDON E S I A
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Increased relevance for a skilled workforce - how to engage the tourism industry in poly training
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NEWSLETTER
Why the Presence of the Private Sector is Important To be able to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, increased competitiveness of tourism and hospitality products is essential. And this competitiveness can only be reached with the availability of competent human resources. Besides, the industrial revolution 4.0 demands a certain quality of human resources, to be able to become proficient in skills regarding communication, collaboration, critical and creative thinking, digitalization and mindfulness. One of the efforts to achieve such human resources quality is the provision of adequate education and training. Vocational education institutions play an important role in catering to this demand for competent human resources. The preparation of these human resources must be in line with the skill demand of the industry. However, the poly curricula for a competent and highly competitive workforce often lack exactly this demand orientation. As a result, graduates must undergo additional training before they are ready to work in the private sector. This provision of additional training costs the private sector time and effort, exemplifying the difference of what is taught in school and the truth that graduates find “in the real world”. With this in mind, the collaboration of the private sector with vocational institutions is essential. But how to manage to involve the private sector to contribute? How do they feel about this? And is it helpful for the teachers?
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Contribution of the Private Sector to the Curriculum Development Process In 2021, the STED project facilitated the presence of the tourism private sector at Politeknik Pariwisata Lombok (Lombok Tourism Polytechnic), to provide inputs to the curriculum development process and thus continuing the DACUM workshop, conducted in 2019 and 2020, which engaged the private sector experts in Culinary Arts and Rooms Division. After the development of the occupational profile, private sector partners continued the collaboration regarding the co-design of the syllabus. Syllabus design is part of the curriculum development process. To bridge the gap between the private sector and vocational schools, industry partners were involved to provide input by reviewing content towards professional practice in the industry and discussing with lecturers who are in charge of related subjects. One of the subjects was the butler course in the Department of Room Division. The review and inputs by the private sector included aligning the basic service skills currently needed in the industry with those taught in schools, such as grooming standards, organizing guest arrival and departure processes, operating the hotel property management system and aspects of occupational hygiene and safety standards.Besides, the private sector also reviewed and gave inputs to aspects related to local wisdom and local culture where applicable, such as aspects of halal tourism (e.g. providing prayer tools or non-alcoholic beverages and halal food for costumers), entrepreneurship, and sustainability aspects.
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Lastly, the aspect of soft skills was reviewed, such as the problem-solving abilities, collaboration with related departments in the hotel, and guest communication. To make sure that the results of the industry input are aligned with the qualification standard, the results of the private sector’s inputs were synchronized with the national qualification standard and the ASEAN MRA standards. This process is expected to enable students who are currently studying at vocational education institutions to connect theory and practice, following the demand of the industry. Additionally, the collaboration between the private sector experts and lecturers posed an opportunity to exchange information, bridging the gap between vocational institutions and industry.
The Private Sector Perspective Several occupancy representatives involved in the process shared their perspectives. Generally, they were pleased to contribute through the knowledge and expertise in which they work. Further, they saw this collaboration as providing opportunities for engagement with the vocational education institutions. While being involved in this process, they saw that parts of the curricula were lacking industry knowledge and needed to be improved, so they provided appropriate input. Additionally, they stated that the industry can learn about current trends at vocational education institutions, which in return inspires them to review Standard Operating Procedures at the workplace.
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According to private sector partners in team-teaching in vocational education institutions, the results of this collaboration are school syllabi which are closer to the actual conditions that exist in the industry today. They facilitate the distribution of teaching materials to students, adding some additional case examples. The private sector hopes that through this collaboration, vocational education institutions may effectively synergize with current industrial conditions and improve the quality of graduates in terms both of technical and soft skills.
Impact on the Teachers The presence of the private sector in the process of developing the syllabus is seen as beneficial by the course teachers. The most valuable aspect is the high-quality technical knowledge and skills that are passed on to students through experience and direct input from the industry experts. The outcomes of the collaboration with the private sector are aligned with ASEAN toolbox, especially the ASEAN qualification standard guidelines, widely applied by vocational institutions in the tourism sector. Teachers believe that this type of collaboration between vocational education institutions and the private sector is needed to support them improve teaching materials. The challenges that occur in the daily operations of the tourism and hospitality industry are delivered directly by experts in their fields to enrich students with best practices in the industry.
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Summary 1
The results of the private sector’s inputs are beneficial for vocational institutions to produce graduates that are ready to work and qualified according to the qualifications required by the industry, as well as beneficial for graduates who choose a career as an entrepreneur
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The private sector’s point of view is that the concept of collaboration with lecturers opens up opportunities for better knowledge exchange between them and teachers in vocational institutions
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Collaboration between the private sector and lecturers provides the opportunity to enrich learning resources, following current industry trends and national and ASEAN competency standards
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Outlook for Curriculum Development in Vocational Education Institutions It is expected that in the future, continuous engagement with the private sector will ensure that the design and learning process becomes an essential component of the curriculum development process in vocational education institutions, particularly in the hospitality and tourism industry. This is important as it is the industry that will accept students as interns and recruit graduates for employment.
“It’s always a pleasure to be able to contribute and share information regarding workplace aspects of my field of expertise; knowing that some of it is used by students makes me even happier, and I hope that this will be a great benefit to them in the future.” Adam Malik, Industry Expert for Butler Training
“Certainly, I believe the material to be taught will be of better quality because it will include direct experience from industry experts, and the results, in my opinion, are aligned with the ASEAN toolbox that we use.” Agung Sedana P. Lecturer, Rooms Division of Politeknik Pariwisata Lombok
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Sustainable Tourism Education Development | STED Swiss Indonesian Development Cooperation Swisscontact | Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation Project Office: Jl. Raden Puguh Desa Puyung | Jonggat | Lombok Tengah West Nusa Tenggara 83561 | Indonesia Phone +62 859 0426 8600 www.swisscontact.org/indonesia
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