Conformity between the Choices of Entering Majors with Employment after Graduation at Non-Technology and Industrial Vocational Schools in Indonesia

Abstract

The high open unemployment rate of vocational graduates in the two semesters of August 2018 and February 2019 is an anomaly, Indonesia government through presidential instruction No. 9 of 2016 concerning vocational revitalization which imposes four national development priorities on vocational education, they are Agriculture, maritime, tourism, and creative industries. Indonesia Ministry of Education also targets vocational graduates in Indonesia absorbed by industry. Non-technology and industrial vocational schools are an inseparable part of the four priorities of Indonesia's national development mentioned earlier. This research tries to describe the problems that suffer from vocational schools, more specifically the relationship and appropriateness of the majors they choose with their work after graduation. This research with a sample of 1398 non-technology and industrial vocational high school, 629 alumni and 769 students. This research found 938 respondent who choose to study at non-technology and industrial vocational schools for reasons of interest, and only 283 alumni work according to their chosen majors, or only 45 percent. A more sad number was found in the overall sample, where only 55% percent of alumni were employed in accordance with their chosen majors. For this reason, revitalization of non-technology and industrial vocational schools in Indonesia is required.