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RI-Swiss cooperation seeks to close skills gap in tourism
Learning by doing: Students from the Lombok Tourism Polytechnic, West Nusa Tenggara, take part in a cooking practicum
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earning by doing: Students from the Lombok Tourism Polytechnic, West Nusa Tenggara, take part in a cooking practicum. The school is the recipient of the Swiss government’s Sustainable Tourism Education Development (STED) fund, which aims to improve the quality of tourism education in Indonesia to create high-skilled human capital. (Courtesy of the Swiss Embassy to Indonesia)
The Swiss and Indonesian governments have announced a joint program seeking to boost the quality of Indonesia’s human capital by helping tourism school students attain the skills they need to compete in the global hospitality sector.
As part of its Sustainable Tourism Education Development (STED) program, the Swiss government has disbursed CHF3.9 million (US$3.94 million) to support the Lombok Tourism Polytechnic in West Nusa Tenggara. The donation was distributed through the State Secretariat.
The project itself was officially launched in Lombok on Tuesday by the Swiss State Secretariat’s economic affairs and development cooperation head Raymund Furrer and the Tourism Ministry’s undersecretary for industrial and institutional development Rizki Handayani. Also attending the launch ceremony was Swiss Ambassador-designate to Indonesia Kurt Kunz.
The Swiss Embassy in Indonesia explained that the STED program aimed at improving the school’s vocational curriculum, training its teachers, as well as forming networks with industry players to give students much-needed internship opportunities.
According to a statement from the embassy, the program’s highlight is its dual track system, allowing students to complement their classroom learning with real-life internship experiences in corporations. Through this system, hotels and other tourism players are allowed to play a greater role in boosting vocational tourism training.
Tourism itself is a highly important sector in the Indonesian economy, especially in labor absorption. Therefore, in 2016, the government launched an initiative to develop 10 new tourism attractions across the archipelago, outside the already well-known Bali, through a sustainable approach. To support this program, better human capital is badly needed.
“We hope that the STED project can help boost the skills of our tourism school students, who will contribute to the competitiveness of Indonesia’s tourism,” Rizki said.
According to Furrer, Switzerland would like to share its expertise in tourism development, which has been highly successful, with Indonesia.
“It is our ambition to make sure that Lombok tourism will soon employ their workers straight out of the Lombok Tourism Polytechnic,” Furrer said.
