Govt to Standardize Tourism School's Curriculums Ahead of ASEAN Integration

Jakarta (Antara) - The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy recently reviewed curriculums of tourism schools in Indonesia to assure they met ASEAN standards, ministry's Chief of Tourism Resources Development I Gde Pitana said here on Saturday. "We discussed the plan to standardize tourism schools' curriculums with representatives from 24 schools in Indonesia. The policy aims to reorganize human resources working in the tourism sector in Indonesia to be in line with ASEAN's Common Competency Standard for Tourism Professionals," Pitana said. According to Pitana, reorganizing tourism school's curriculums was necessary prior to ASEAN integration in 2015. He expressed his hope that students graduating from tourism schools in Indonesia will be able to compete with students from other ASEAN countries. Earlier, Tourism and Creative Economy Minister Mari Elka Pangestu said superior human resources are the key to success in facing the Asean Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. "The question is how we prepare ourselves for the AEC in 2015. The key to success rests with the quality of human resources," she said. She noted that the Tourism and Creative Economy Ministry had long prepared a wide range of programs to face integration into the AEC. Citing an example, she said the ministry certified 58,627 tourism workers employed in hotels, restaurants, spas, and travel bureaus, among others, between 2007 and 2013. "This refers to the implementation of the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on Tourism Professionals, which has agreed to recognizing 32 standard professions in the tourism sector," she added. In addition, she said the ministry also had implemented a number of capacity building programs for those employed in the creative industry and facilitated a business incubator program to produce creative entrepreneurs to compete in the global market. (*) Reporting by Hanni Sofia Translating and Editing by Amie Fenia Arimbi