Apple Developer Academy in Indonesia celebrated the graduation of its 400 students through a virtual commencement on Tuesday. The graduates were students of the academy's schools in Jakarta, Surabaya in East Java and Batam in Riau Islands.

“The students at this year's Apple Developer Academy demonstrated tremendous resilience, ingenuity and determination, adapting to completely new ways of learning in real time to gain the needed skills to develop iOS apps and join the fast growing app economy,” Apple's vice president of environment, policy and social initiatives Lisa Jackson said. “Graduates are leaving the academy with critical skills they can use to change the world for the better and we can’t wait to see the incredible things they will achieve.”

According to a press release, the students graduated despite less than ideal situations in a pandemic. The students had to adapt to virtual lessons and collaborated with each other over distance. In the end, they were deemed successful in developing applications that provide answer to the new normal needs, including emergency treatment services, e-commerce platforms and interactive augmented reality for virtual study groups.

Four student teams presented their apps during the ceremony, namely Aura, an emergency care and de-stigmatization tool for Indonesians with epilepsy; Muara, an interactive remote learning experience for the National Museum of Indonesia; Quipy, an app that manages inventory, online sales transactions and customer feedback through customized keyboard shortcuts; and Aksaraya, an app focused on the preservation of traditional Javanese script that utilizes Apple Pencil and iPad. 

Read also: Indonesia's Apple Academy graduates ready to develop iOS apps

Aura, Quipy and Aksaraya are available on the App Store.

Some students from the app development teams have been invited to attend courses at Apple’s Entrepreneur Developer Camp for Women. There, they will be trained in a one-on-one-code-level guidance by Apple experts and engineers, as well as gaining mentorship, inspiration and insights from top Apple leaders.

More than 450 Indonesian students have gone through the Apple Developer Academy program since 2017. The next year’s class will include students from more than 80 cities across Indonesia, which saw a 100 percent increase in female applicants over last year’s pool. (gis/wng)