The Faculty of Engineering has recently broaden its collaboration with seven vocational high schools in East Java in preparing the schools to be professional certification tests providers. The signing of Contractual Agreements was done on February 7th 2015. The participating schools are SMK (Vocational High School) PGRI 1 Mejayan, SMK PGRI 2 Ponorogo, SMK Negeri I Nganjuk, SMK PGRI I Nganjuk, SMK PGRI 3 Malang, SMK PGRI 1 Gresik, SMK PGRI Wlingi.
The signing was also witnessed by Mustaghfirin Amin, MBA., the Director for Vocational High Schools Development of the Directorate of Secondary Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Dr. Sugito,the head of the PGRI (Teacher Assosication of the Republic of Indonesia) Education Center Foundation, and Wardan Suyanto, Ed.D., the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs.
“The cooperation among YSU and vocational high schools is a starting point to develop and enhance the quality of vocational high schools in Indonesia,” Mustagfirin said.
The collaborations among higher education institutions and vocational high schools are parts of the realisation of visions stated by the Ministry of Education and Culture. “We will work closely with industries associations and National Board for Professional Certification to officially certify the competences of vocational high schools students as the major assessment for them to graduate,” he added.
Later on, the collaborating schools will be the model schools for other vocational high schools in the region and also provide professional certification tests for students studying at those schools and students from other vocational high schools.
The Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Dr. Bruri Triyono, M.Pd. explained that the contractual agreements provided the base for the collaboration programs. “We are experienced in conducting professional certification tests in our labs and workshops, and we will collaborate with the vocational high schools to provide professional certification tests for the students.”
Drs. Sampun Hadam, MM., Principal of SMK PGRI 1 Mejayan expressed his anthusiasm for the collaboration. “It will be of invaluable assistance for us in the preparation to provide professional certification tests for our students,” he said.