The University of Indonesia (UI) held on Tuesday the first International Conference of Vocational Higher Education, gathering academics and professionals to exchange ideas and explore opportunities for collaboration in vocational studies.

At the forum, 92 participants presented research and papers, ranging from the fields of businesses studies, health and medicine, communications and media, social sciences and humanities, to travel and tourism.

One of the participants, Bhernadetta Pravita Wahyuningtyas from Jakarta-based Bina Nusantara University, presented a paper about the leadership style of Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja “Ahok” Purnama from the perspective of communication studies, while Michaella Blaško, a participant from the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia, presented a study on economic convergence in a number of Indonesian regions.

UI vocational education director Sigit Pranowo Hadiwardoyo hoped the conference would help put the program on the international map.

“We want to find a way to make our vocational program go international. Our immediate target is to [make our journals] indexed on Scopus,” he said, referring to a huge database of abstracts and citations of peer-reviewed literature.

UI, one of the country’s largest and oldest universities, currently offers almost 300 vocational, undergraduate and postgraduate courses in 13 faculties, a postgraduate program and a vocational program. (win/hwa)