David Jardine
Leading universities in the world’s fourth most populous nation are making serious efforts to deal with high unemployment among their graduates. The situation facing Indonesia is typical of other developing countries.
The data and analysis centre of Tempo, the country’s leading current affairs weekly magazine, broke fresh ground last year with its Guide to Universities and Job-matching Programs of Study. Reflecting the widespread unease at the high annual rate of graduates either failing to find work or having to settle for apparently unsuitable positions, the Tempo centre set out to assess the ‘marketability’ of graduates from the nation’s top 10 universities.
The study covered state and private institutions and found that in Indonesia, “the higher one’s education the smaller the chance one will get a job”. Research by Jobs DB, an Indonesian employment information service, reported that 50% of graduates were trained in disciplines that did not match job openings.
This leads directly to the perception that universities are not paying attention to the needs of the market and changes in it. Some institutions, however, were found by the centre to be conducting market research and carrying out internal reforms.
These included the number one-placed University of Indonesia (UI), which has a mandatory English-language element to its placement test, and the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, which networks with agricultural bodies.
Some institutions now have links with companies through apprenticeship schemes for undergraduates. The Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) has developed these through its engineering faculty.
A number of leading institutions, among them UI and ITB, Gajah Madah University in Jogjakarta and the November 10 University in the East Java capital Surabaya, have joined an Asia-wide university consortium to improve practice. This has resulted in a number of them being placed in the Times Higher Education Supplement-QS World Top 500 rankings, with UI at 250, ITB at 258, Gajah Madah at 270 and Diponegoro University at 495.
One relevant item of assessment in the Times Higher table was the market absorption of graduates.Leading education reform campaigner, Professor Mochtar Buchorim, is one of those who believe the nation’s heavily bureaucratised education system is in need of a comprehensive overhaul. This would necessarily require replacement of the standardised multiple-choice national university entrance examination.
Source: http://www.universityworldnews.com
Sunday, October 5, 2008
ILO Gender Equality campaign highlights need for rights, jobs and social security for older women and men
GENEVA (ILO News) ─ Despite increasing international attention to ageing societies and older persons, in many societies, older persons and especially older women, still face age discrimination in the workplace and lack access to rights, jobs and social security, the International Labour Office (ILO) said today on the occasion of the International Day of Older Persons.
“We need new age solutions to old age problems, especially for older women”, says Jane Hodges, Director of the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality. “Women in old age are particularly vulnerable because they are often stuck in unpaid, low-paid or part-time and precarious work. As a result women often lack any form of pensions, rights or other social benefits enjoyed by men. What is more, their lower pay engenders an endless cycle of gender-based poverty.”
The rights of older workers have long been on the agenda of the ILO. The Older Workers Recommendation, 1980 (No. 162) specifically applies to all workers, women and men, who are liable to encounter difficulties in employment and occupation because of advancement in age.
The Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging (2002) has made it clear that in order to build a society fit for people of all ages the international community needs to rethink the conventional course of working life.
Older persons should be able to choose to work, be it full- or part-time, and benefit from social security, old-age benefits, retirement benefits or long-service benefits. However, in many countries, the absence or low coverage of social protection systems compel older women and men to continue working, often in the informal economy and in precarious conditions, in order to afford a decent living.
Access to retirement through adequate pensions and health care is part of the ILO’s core mandate and an integral component of its Decent Work Agenda. The ILO’s Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) sets minimum standards for a comprehensive social security system. The ILO Social Security Department promotes this and other relevant conventions through its Global Campaign to extend social security to all women and men.
In June 2009, changing demographics and gender equality in the world of work are both to be discussed at the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference in Geneva.
Source: http://www.ilo.org
“We need new age solutions to old age problems, especially for older women”, says Jane Hodges, Director of the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality. “Women in old age are particularly vulnerable because they are often stuck in unpaid, low-paid or part-time and precarious work. As a result women often lack any form of pensions, rights or other social benefits enjoyed by men. What is more, their lower pay engenders an endless cycle of gender-based poverty.”
The rights of older workers have long been on the agenda of the ILO. The Older Workers Recommendation, 1980 (No. 162) specifically applies to all workers, women and men, who are liable to encounter difficulties in employment and occupation because of advancement in age.
The Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging (2002) has made it clear that in order to build a society fit for people of all ages the international community needs to rethink the conventional course of working life.
Older persons should be able to choose to work, be it full- or part-time, and benefit from social security, old-age benefits, retirement benefits or long-service benefits. However, in many countries, the absence or low coverage of social protection systems compel older women and men to continue working, often in the informal economy and in precarious conditions, in order to afford a decent living.
Access to retirement through adequate pensions and health care is part of the ILO’s core mandate and an integral component of its Decent Work Agenda. The ILO’s Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention, 1952 (No. 102) sets minimum standards for a comprehensive social security system. The ILO Social Security Department promotes this and other relevant conventions through its Global Campaign to extend social security to all women and men.
In June 2009, changing demographics and gender equality in the world of work are both to be discussed at the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference in Geneva.
Source: http://www.ilo.org
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