Developing student learning support for graduate employability through entrepreneurial clinics

Ratna Marta Dhewi, Yoyoh K, Boedhi Oetoyo, Enang Rusyana and Dem Vi Sara
Universitas Terbuka
Bogor, Indonesia

Improving the educational system is a key step towards creating graduates who possess the knowledge, skills and abilities to participate in the economic area, locally and globally. Graduates need to acquire the competencies that will allow them to find work and cope with unpredictable labour market changes. Therefore, Universitas Terbuka (UT) — with its large student population, spread from Sumatera Island to Irian Jaya Island — continuously seeks approaches and strategies to prepare its graduates for the labour market. However, efforts to improve the distance learning system have encountered various obstacles, such as limitations in learning facilities, curriculum content, and the competency of its graduates.

This research attempts to discover the effects of university entrepreneurial clinics which aim to develop an entrepreneur spirit for graduates employability. A case study, carried out by the Bogor Regional Office, showed that the students urgently need to be encouraged to develop their confidence; to focus on high performance; and to have good persuasive, communication and negotiation skills. The entrepreneurial clinic succeeded in motivating 53% of the students to create their own businesses after they graduated — but the others chose to be employed as government officers or private employees. This paper discusses student learning support which gives UT and other education institutions an insight into developing graduate employability through entrepreneurial clinics, and changes that could be made to improve the quality of teaching.