The real problem for university graduates these days is the huge extent of joblessness among educated people in the regions. It seems education means nothing in many industry sectors.

Matching education with industry needs is still a problem. Making education relevant for an industry requires more than just transferring knowledge or specific skills for that industry. Businesses also need workers who are capable of thinking, communicating, interacting and working in a team. These skills, which are closely related to character building, should have been taught at the primary and secondary school levels.

Vocational education requires a great leap, which means it should be taught not in secondary education institutions but in polytechnics. Training in industry-specific work can be obtained on the job. If new recruits have already mastered general requirements, it will not be too difficult for them to adapt their knowledge.

The main problem with education in Indonesia is that teaching is too focused on content. This is demonstrated by the importance of teaching subjects in schools. For example, there are 12 subjects taught at elementary school level, 16 at junior high and 22 at the high school level.

Consequently, students only learn those subjects and they never learn how to think, how to solve problems, how to work in a team or how to communicate. Although there have been some attempts to improve the curriculum in this respect, they have not been implemented effectively.

The problem is not that there are too few job opportunities, as many people complain. Industry finds it difficult to recruit skilled workers, despite the high number of university graduates.

The problems are mostly due to individuals' inability to solve problems and to their way of thinking. If the candidates possessed better thinking skills, I think they would need no more than two to three months' training to adapt their skills to their jobs.

To solve these problems, we need academics and business practitioners to work together. Collaboration between academics and practitioners is important in making research matter. Practitioners in the field bring perspectives on real life concerns and experiences that help make educational research more relevant to graduates' daily lives. This helps to challenge and develop new approaches to the complex problem of unskilled graduates.

Developing connections between education and industry has great advantages but it is a complex and difficult process. The most important thing in creating effective research programs is the need to understand how contradictory the results of action can be.

It is more important for students to become skilled in the ways of knowing than to learn about any particular product of investigation. Knowledge of methods makes it possible for a person to continue learning and undertake inquiries on his or her own.

Challenges of creating job opportunities -- starting at school -- persist with the quality of education, including teacher qualifications, effective teaching methods, school management and community involvement.

People sometimes forget that corporations need more than just job titles. They need skilled and creative workers as well as thinkers. Recruiters say many job titles serve merely as a recruiting tool and do not reflect a new kind of position with higher pay. Companies are creating titles to appeal to the egos of job hunters seeking to elevate their corporate status.

So, what can we do?

Without eliminating the essence of educational goals, we must realize that we live in a globalized world. We need a global understanding about the relationship between education and industry. At the very least, we must not sacrifice our principles in achieving a good relationship between them, while still presenting suitable and good jobs for our younger generations.

The writer works for the Indonesian Family Foundation (YKI), Jakarta. He can be reached at abdullahyazid*yahoo.com

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