Universities Must Help Reduce Unemployment: Minister

Jakarta (Antara) - Manpower and Transmigration Minister Muhaimin Iskandar asked universities to serve as educational and at the same time training institutions to produce ready-for-market workers. "Universities are not expected to only award certificates to their students, which will only increase the number of unemployed intellectuals," the minister said here on Friday. He stated that universities must be able to produce quality graduates, who were ready to enter the job market soon. Muhaimin reminded that in the face of the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015, universities must be able to prepare graduates who can be absorbed by the market quickly. He said graduates should be competent enough to work and have a good command of foreign languages. "Competition in the job market will be tight with the agreement of the Southeast Asian countries to implement the ASEAN Economic Community in 2015," Muhaimin noted. Graduates must be able to follow the advancements in technology and possess skills and work competence needed by businesses and industries, he remarked. (*)