UNAIR NEWS – To improve the quality of Universitas Airlangga’s graduates, especially to face the era of industrial revolution 4.0, Center for Career Development and Entrepreneurship (PPKK) UNAIR held a Focus Group Discussion with some alumni performing in various fields. The discussion on Soft skills Mapping for UNAIR Graduates to Face 4.0 Industrial Era was held in Graha STR Jakarta on Saturday, Feb. 9.
The discussion was moderated by alumnus of Physics UNAIR, Aris Winarno, who currently work as HR Director PT Philips Indonesia and was attended by alumni who started in the fields of industry, health, mining, banking, government, military, state-owned enterprises, and start-up companies. In the opening discussion, Aris said that during recruitment for new staff, the industry often find difficulties to get college graduates with excellent quality and skills.
“Therefore, we often seek best graduates in campuses before they are graduated,” he explained.
Regarding the prospective graduates who have excellent quality, Aris explained that graduates must have various skills such as communication skills, discipline, lifetime learning, team work, leadership, and negotiating skill.
“Therefore, this discussion must be the basis of university policies and strategies in preparing graduates in the future,” he said.
Responding to the discussion opening statement, Binafita Merianti, an alumna of UNAIR Faculty of Psychology who works in one of the leading property companies in Indonesia, said that there are different and varied criteria needed by the property industry. According to her, there is a need for graduates who have energy, can do many things, and have initiatives.
From the military field, alumna of Faculty of Dental Medicine UNAIR drg. Nora Lelyana, MH.Kes., conveyed her opinion. According to her, during her tenure in the military, Nora felt that it was very unfortunate because UNAIR graduates were rare. It happens because the involvement of alumni was still limited. However, after Nora established communication, in the past two years, UNAIR graduates started to show.
“We took the cumlaude graduates last time when there was a test,” she said. “Regarding skills, in the military, they may be different from the others. Military does not need graduates who have high confidence in the beginning, but they are formed and be confident as soldiesr,” she added.
Furthermore, from the health sector, alumni of Faculty of Medicine UNAIR dr. Imran Pambudi, MPHM., said that overall the professional world is almost the same as conveyed by dozens of alumni attending. But there are some things that really need attention, networking and updated with technology, for example.
The Head of the Tuberculosis Subdirectorate of Indonesian Ministry of Health also added that there are four important things that need to be considered by each graduate, from knowing about customers, communication skills, responsiveness, and sensitivity to data.
“However, the most important thing is to make preparation, the university must be able to recognize graduates’ talents and realize that these graduates are fit to be employees or entrepreneurs. So students already know where their talents are and after graduation they know where they should work in, ” he explained. “For that, it must be prepared since college,” he concluded.
Author: Nuri Hermawan
