An Analysis on Management Improvement and Fiscal Support for Vocational Education Development in Indonesia

Abstract

Vocational education in Indonesia is at both vocational high school (senior high school) and academy level, which is managed by universities. Vocational education seeks to prepare students to fit the competencies demanded by the subsequent workforce and, as such, its methods of education, training and curriculum are expected to be connected to the workplace. However, the Central Bureau of Statistics of Indonesia (2018) shows that the annual average number of unemployed people in Indonesia, when viewed from the highest level of education (2013-2017), was 1,460,473 (18.40%) among Vocational Senior High School (VSHS) graduates and 218,567 (3.00%) among Vocational Academy/Diploma Program (VA/DP) graduates. There are two points considered to be the cause of this condition, namely: (1) the planning, curriculum, and implementation systems of vocational education in Indonesia are considered far from perfect; (2) specifically, the form of fiscal support from the government has not been identified for the development of vocational education. By using descriptive exploratory analysis method and with data collection methods through focus group discussion, literature study, and others, this article makes several recommendations, such as: (1) The government and related parties should look for several alternative solutions to problems in planning, curriculum, and implementation of vocational education; (2) the government should provide more specific fiscal support and incentives and (3) there should be mapping of the leading economic sectors that are expected to absorb vocational education graduates. Keywords—Vocational Education, Problems, Alternative Solutions, Fiscal Incentives