SR Technics, ZbW and SITECO provide advanced training for Indonesian Polytechnic instructors

In November and December 2017, MRO service provider SR Technics jointly with ZbW St. Gallen, a leading Swiss institution in higher vocational education and training (hVET), held a six-week advanced training program for 15 Indonesian polytechnic instructors. The training marked the start of a major “lecturer retooling” program launched last year by the Indonesian Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education. Its goal is to enhance the skills and knowledge of up to 1,500 instructors over the next five years. The pilot course, which was led in St. Gallen and Zurich Airport, provided the baseline experience for the regular courses that will be deployed over the next years. The general program concept was developed by SITECO, a Swiss NGO promoting dual vocational education and training (dVET) in selected countries. The courses in mechanics, mechatronics and electro technic shall be performed in different education centers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, known for their dVET systems. Providing apprentices with practical skills in industrial companies, dVET has significant positive effects on youth unemployment, skill shortages, productivity, competitiveness and innovation. Foreign governments and industries are therefore increasingly interested in such systems and mechanisms. The 2017 pilot course successfully met its targets, as a monitoring and evaluation team of the Ministry verified during the week of the last course.