By 2025, digitalization is poised to inject $150 billion into Indonesia’s economy and create 3.7 million jobs. 1 However, the nation confronts a significant digital divide, anticipating a shortfall of nine million skilled professionals in digital skills by 2030. 2 Bridging this gap necessitates a targeted focus on aligning education with industry demands encompassing both technical expertise and essential soft skills development.
edX and the Indonesia Cyber Education Institute (ICE Institute) strive to build a bridge for learners to cross these skill gaps, setting the stage for a workforce that is ready to meaningfully contribute amidst Indonesia’s rapid advancement.
Established by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), the ICE Institute is a key accredited center for skills-based learning in Indonesia. 3 It’s a proactive step, supported by the government to ensure that students are not just armed with degrees, but equipped with additional digital and career focused skills that expedite the nation’s progress.
An edX partner since ICE Institute’s inauguration in July 2021, the ICE Institute’s primary focus is to facilitate the provision of exceptional learning opportunities while still ensuring the quality of online course materials. Through partnering with edX, the ICE Institute is able to extend its offering of market-led learning content to help students build skills and increase their future employability.
Challenge: Equip students with industry-ready skills during their final year of university
To face the challenge of closing skills gaps at a rapid rate, ICE Institute was formed as part of the Golden Indonesia 2045 Vision: an Indonesia government-led strategic imperative for the country to “be an independent, united, sovereign, just, and prosperous nation” by their centennial in 2045.4
One of the primary targets for Golden Indonesia 2045 is to increase the competitiveness of Indonesian human resources through education, training and development, and mastery of innovative technology.
The ICE Institute’s mission was formed in alignment with the Golden Indonesia vision. Its objective is to equip participants with specific skills that align with industry needs in Indonesia. The key areas for development to meet skills demands include, but are not limited to:
- Technology: Cloud computing, cybersecurity, coding, and data science.
- Artificial intelligence (AI): Machine learning, deep learning, and AI ethics and policy.
- Management and commercial acumen: Financial skills, data analysis, and project management.
- Communication and interpersonal skills: Decision-making and business writing.
- Digital transformation: Digital strategy, business intelligence, technology adoption, blockchain, corporate transformation, green skill revolution, and change management.
- Supply chain: Sustainable supply chain studies, supply chain analytics, and digitization.
ICE Institute Director, Rahayu Dwi Riyanti, M.A explains how their goals depend on facilitating access to global leaders in education:
“We would like our participants, especially students and lecturers, to have experience taking courses from very good universities [around] the world, like Harvard, MIT, or Stanford,” Riyanti adds.
Not only is there value in the content of the curricula, but the ICE Institute also believes participants can benefit from a wider perspective on how information is taught and improve their employment prospects.
Solution: Provide access to courses and Professional Certificates for credit
To work towards these goals, they turned to edX, which offers a subscription catalog of more than 2,300 courses from world-renowned universities and institutions on a range of in-demand topics that perfectly align with their digital skills development goals.
Not only does access to the edX courses help close skill gaps, but universities are able to fully integrate the courses into the students’ for-credit learning experience. Indonesia’s educational policies aim to provide students with flexibility and additional learning opportunities. For example, students can enroll in courses offered outside their home institution and earn credits contributing to 40% of the whole curriculum. This means that edX certifications are part of meaningful progress in each learner’s journey, from student to highly skilled professional.
The catalog consists of self-paced courses, including professional certifications and MicroMasters® Programs, stackable microcredentials that help learners develop additional job-relevant skills. Students enroll in courses pre-selected by their university or lecturer. This helps ensure that the students will find the courses most relevant to their program curriculum.
Some of the top courses completed by the students include:
- Python Basics for Data Science from IBM
- Data Science: R Basics from Harvard University
- Exercising Leadership: Foundational Principles from Harvard University
Other popular courses include CS50’s Introduction to Programming with Python and CS50’s Introduction to Computer Science from HarvardX, Analyzing Data with Excel from IBM, and IELTS Academic Test Preparation from the University of Queensland.
Riyanti says that while their focus is on technical skills, it does not preclude students from learning about all kinds of topics. Often, the university lecturers select required courses for learners to ensure they are highly relevant to their graduation requirements. Then, the subscription allows students to consume additional courses as much as they want: One student has even completed upwards of 20 edX courses since launch.
“Most of the courses are about IT,” Riyanti says, “but sometimes there is something different, like the secret of happiness or politics.”
The extensive edX catalog also allows students to take courses which they may be interested in or curious about, but are currently not offered within their curriculum. The ICE Institute believes that giving students the flexibility to learn online, and learn over and above the curriculum will undoubtedly build up their learning agility skill, which is an extremely important skill in this complex world.
Impact: Improve students’ digital and technical skills, elevating their employability prospects
The ICE Institute’s commitment to enrolling students in high-quality courses from leading universities is a powerful force in closing digital and technical skills gaps in Indonesia.
With access to edX, students gain knowledge on skills of the future. For example, CS50’s Introduction to Artificial Intelligence with Python from HarvardX is one of the most popular course selections among ICE Institute students. More than 100 students participated in this course in September 2023 alone. Upon completion, they are able to work with the algorithms, powering everything from game engines to face recognition software.
Dr. Kokoy Siti Komariah, the ICE Institute’s IT system development manager, explains that adding world-renowned courses like these from edX has been a game changer for the ICE Institute:
“When we put edX on our platform, people began to become interested in taking courses,” Komariah said. “Students are really motivated to learn with edX. They can get the knowledge and the certification in a short time (five or six certificates per semester). Students know these certificates will help them stand out in the job market later on.”
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- Digital revolution: What it means for Indonesian business (2022). Mckinsey. Accessed on 8 March 2024
- Digital Upskilling for Indonesia (2022). SMERU Research Institute. Accessed on 8 March 2024
- What is the ICE Institute? (2024). Indonesia Cyber Education Institute. Accessed on 2 February 2024
- Golden Indonesia 2045. (2024) Indonesia EMAS 2045. Accessed on 2 February 2024.
