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University eyes greater role in global market
New beginning: Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir (center) signs a plaque to mark the launch of Prasetiya Mulya University during a ceremony at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday, as rector Djisman Simanjuntak (left) looks on
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New beginning: Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir (center) signs a plaque to mark the launch of Prasetiya Mulya University during a ceremony at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday, as rector Djisman Simanjuntak (left) looks on. (JP/Seto Wardhana) (center) signs a plaque to mark the launch of Prasetiya Mulya University during a ceremony at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday, as rector Djisman Simanjuntak (left) looks on. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
New beginning: Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir (center) signs a plaque to mark the launch of Prasetiya Mulya University during a ceremony at the Indonesia Convention Exhibition in Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday, as rector Djisman Simanjuntak (left) looks on. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
After 34 years as one of the country's leading business schools, Prasetiya Mulya Business School officially transformed itself into Prasetiya Mulya University on Thursday in a bid to prepare students for real-world future challenges.
The transformation into a university was inaugurated at a ceremony held at the Indonesian Convention Exhibition (ICE) in Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD) City, Tangerang, and was attended by Research and Technology and Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir.
'With the change into a university, Prasetiya Mulya will better prepare people to implement their technical skills in the business world,' Djisman Simanjuntak, a rector of Prasetiya Mulya University, said in his speech.
The university offers interdisciplinary programs such as international business law, business economics, business mathematics, software engineering, computer engineering, food technology, product design engineering and energy engineering.
The programs will begin in August 2017. At present, the university offers one master's program, namely the Master of Management, in addition to two bachelor programs in Accounting and Management. Furthermore, it also provides non-degree programs for employees to develop their management and organizational skills.
The first campus is located in Cilandak, South Jakarta. This campus is used for master's and non-degree programs. The second campus, which occupies 8 hectares of land near the ICE exhibition center in BSD, is used for undergraduate students.
With these new additional fields of study, Djoko Wintoro, the vice-rector of Prasetiya Mulya University, predicts that the number of students will grow from 3,000 today to 15,000 over the next few years.
Nasir hopes the new programs offered by the university will open up opportunities for young Indonesians and prepare the country to compete with other countries.
He said that the government had encouraged science-based research in seven sectors, one of them in food technology, to help increase of the country's business competitiveness.
'We want Indonesia to use its rich diversity to boost the country's global market competitiveness so that it doesn't need to import from other countries,' he said.
'For instance, we have applied genetic engineering to increase the weight of cows from 200-250 kilograms to 500-550 kilograms,' he said.
Nasir also stated that Indonesia needed to upgrade the skills of its people in information technology in order to reduce the country's dependence on foreign products.
'At present, Indonesia still needs to import microchips, which cost around Rp 10,000 [76 US cents] to 15,000 each. Now, there are around 50 million people who need to make e-ktp [electronic identity cards],'' he said. Nasir pointed out that if the cost of one microchip was Rp 15,000 Indonesia needed about Rp 30 trillion to buy chips in four years. 'This is a tremendous business opportunity,' he said.
In the energy sector, Indonesia needs to use renewable energy sources such as geothermal energy and wind and solar cells instead of fossil fuels.
Currently, the country still depends on conventional technologies. Nasir expressed the hope that Prasetiya Mulya would take a role in developing Indonesia's future by teaching the disciplines of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. (win)
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