Growing Indonesia  a Triangular Approach (GITA) integrates business university collaboration,graduate entrepreneurship and enterprise creation

With a population of over 260 million, Indonesia is Southeast Asia’s largest economy and the world’s fourth most populous nation. Current support for start-ups is fragmented and there is a need for a more coordinated approach by educational institutions, government bodies and industry in building Indonesia’s entrepreneurial capacity and in reducing reliance on foreign labour as well as outward economic migration.

The Growing Indonesia – a Triangular Approach (GITA) project operates at a national, regional, local, institutional and programme level.  The project is creating a growing network of Growth Hubs across Indonesia aimed at embedding entrepreneurship education into University curricula and providing support services to local entrepreneurs and start-up businesses. These hubs are physical spaces with an incubation facility for cultivating innovation and exploiting new ideas applied to the local and regional economies.

The creation of Growth Hubs is the central and outward facing component of the innovative Growing Indonesia Triangular Approach (GITA) that integrates business-university collaboration, graduate entrepreneurship and enterprise creation in a strategic way to embed entrepreneurial thinking and activity across all organisational levels.

The GITA project is funded by the European Union Capacity Building in Higher Education Programme which offers a unique opportunity to strengthen higher education ties between Europe and Indonesia.

Who are the stakeholders in Indonesia and how will they benefit?

The Ministry of Education and Higher Education in Indonesia and the Ministry of Trade

The project informs policy making with regard to human capacity building as well the provision of funding for entrepreneurial activity. Additionally, relevant professional bodies will benefit from access to the GITA Learning Network which in turn will inform their networking activities and future iterations of their accreditation schemes.

Universities in Indonesia

Universities will benefit from the development of a set of entrepreneurial learning outcomes that inform graduate profiles and in turn make these more competitive. The development of a physical and virtual space to promote university-enterprise cooperation  enhances the visibility and impact of entrepreneurship and innovation promoting activities within universities, adapted to specific national, regional and local needs.

Students and academics

The facilitation of university-enterprise collaboration provides staff with access to innovative and practice informed teaching methods and opportunities for linking teaching with real-world research. Indonesian academics involved in fostering local SMEs will benefit from the expertise of the Learning Network and advice available through the local Growth Hubs.

The creation of entrepreneurial learning outcomes and their embedding within curricula will improve the competitiveness and recognition of associated graduate profiles and thus, the employability of graduates. By increasing the business acumen of graduates they more are likely to become entrepreneurs. Students will benefit from having access to a recognised platform for career development, job searches and start-up advice.

The creation of a physical as well as virtual space that enables ongoing university – enterprise collaboration and collaboration with other stakeholders will facilitate ongoing dialogue about the currency of curricula, the effectiveness of learning and teaching methodologies, benefits derived by different stakeholders and different activities, and opportunities for innovating and improving the work of both Growth Hubs and the GITA Learning Network.

Local enterprises

During the implementation phase, local entrepreneurs are able to feed into and benefit from the creation of a physical and virtual one-stop shop to address their various business needs, and through their input into the project, contribute to the creation of graduate profiles that meet the needs of the SME sector. SMEs will be able to advise on the range of learning activities involving students for mutual benefit (i.e. consulting projects).

Local entrepreneurs will continue to benefit from an evolving and expanding range of services and networking opportunities and from access to a better qualified pool of interns and graduate employees. It is envisaged that those who have benefited from the services of the Growth Hubs will become active in supporting future activities, either by becoming graduate employers, mentors to local businesses or start-ups, or by investing into funding.

Local communities

By feeding into the project, SMEs are able to advise on the specific entrepreneurial and educational needs of the local community and thereby shape the services and activities provided by local Growth Hubs and Learning Networks. The cross-institutional GITA Learning Network will continue to operate at a national level and extend to other HEIs adopting the triangular approach / Growth Hub model.

Ongoing publicity is ensured through a national, regional and local impactful social media strategy which will be developed as part of the project. Involvement of The Ministry for Education and Higher Education ensures that the activities of the Learning Network remain relevant to policy making. The same applies to the interaction between the GITA Learning Network and professional bodies and its impact on accreditation schemes and associated educational provision.

By continually feeding into the work, SMEs ensure that the services provided by Growth Hubs and the Learning Network remain relevant to the specific entrepreneurial and educational needs of the local community. Through this, the Growth Hub and GITA Learning Network can act as vehicles for human capacity development and job creation and have a positive impact on standards of living and societal wellbeing.

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GITA UAD