Swiss Skills for Competitiveness (SS4C)

SS4C is to strengthen the incentives and capacities of public and private dual vocational education and training (dVET) providers at the micro- and meso-level so that the skills of graduates match the needs of industry, thereby improving small and medium enterprises’ (SMEs) productivity and contributing to more competitive SMEs in Indonesia competing on the global market. 
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Banten
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106.0640179
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West Java
-7.090910999999999
107.668887
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Central Java
-7.150975
110.1402594
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East Java
-7.5360639
112.2384017
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Bali
-8.4095178
115.188916
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west nusa tenggara
-8.6529334
117.3616476
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central sulawesi
-1.4300254
121.4456179
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south sulawesi
-3.6687994
119.9740534
Project duration
2024 - 2027
Financed by
  • State Secretariat for Economic Affairs SECO
  • Government of Indonesia
Project Partners
  • Agency of Industrial Human Resource Development (AIHRD) of the Ministry of Industry (MoI) 
  • Centre for Human Resource Development (CHRD) of the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economies (MoTCE) 

Indonesia continues its upwards trajectory in its social and economic development, with average estimated economic growth at 4.9% in 2024 and 2025. However, some major challenges remain, including the quality of human capital and its supply and demand mismatch. 

Transforming the country’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is part of Indonesian government’s strategic priority agenda to address these challenges. It is especially imperative as the private sector in Indonesia provides over 90% employment opportunities, yet industries often overlook vocational education graduates, primarily due to insufficient industry-relevant skillset. Moreover, pursuing vocational education instead of going to university is a choice only 14% of all tertiary level students made nationwide. This means there is a lot of work to be done, from improving schools’ curriculum to train more skilful graduates to improving lecturers’ qualifications and industry-related experiences. 

The Government of Indonesia answers this challenge by developing a comprehensive approach for skills development, based on the Presidential Decree No. 68 in 2022 on the National Revitalization of Vocational Education and Training. The decree is followed by the implementation of National Strategy on Revitalizing Vocational Education and Training until 2030, which would impact nearly 2,200 tertiary level vocational education institutions and one million students.  

The Project

Swiss Skills for Competitiveness (SS4C) Program combines two previous Swisscontact projects in Indonesia, namely the Skills for Competitiveness (S4C) and the Sustainable Tourism Education Development (STED), both to start Phase II in 2024.  

The program builds on the results of both projects’ initial six-year implementation, which aims to strengthen the dVET service providers, through key elements namely industry-based curriculum, competent lecturers and trainers, and practical facilities, operating in specific sectors. S4C covers metal, manufacturing, furniture and wood, petrochemicals, and food processing in collaboration with the Ministry of Industry (MoI), while STED focuses on tourism alongside the Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economies (MoTCE).  

SS4C program aims to reach three different target groups: public and private stakeholders/service providers forming part of the broader skills for competitiveness ecosystem, Indonesian women and men in search for decent work and career options and, ultimately, private sector companies, namely SMEs competing in the global market. 

Inspired by Swiss dVET expertise and best practices, SS4C works to improve polytechnic education key actors with a strategic focus on the private sector and becoming industry-relevant, so that graduates are equipped with industry-relevant skills for more productive and competitive Indonesian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) on the global market. 

For the next four years, projects under SS4C Program will engage polytechnics and lead companies to integrate dVET key elements into their institutions, as well as ministries and policymakers to institutionalise industry-centred skills development initiatives, to improve the skills and competitiveness of Indonesian companies seeking for decent work upon completing vocational education. 

Project Goals

  1. Improving competitiveness: Making Indonesian SMEs more competitive on the global market, driven by Indonesian men and women with industry-relevant skills. 
  2. Institutionalising dVET key elements in public sector: Supporting meso-level agencies in key ministries in incorporating industry-based curriculum, competent lecturers and trainers, and practical facilities in selected polytechnics based in the program’s working areas. 
  3. Supporting and scaling dVET implementation in private sector: Strengthening incentives and capacity for associations, lead companies, and other relevant service providers to provide and scale dVET services in the program’s working areas and selected sectors. 
  4. Building enabling environment: Encouraging collaboration among key dVET actors at national and subnational levels to improve dVET and private sector competitiveness, with stronger connections with Swiss experts and institutions.  

Expected Results

  1. Improving overall TVET ecosystem that builds private sector competitiveness.
  2. By improving men and women VET graduates’ skills to become more industry-relevant, the SS4C program aims to strengthen the competitiveness of Indonesian private sector, particularly SMEs, in the global market.

The program’s successes by 2027 will be reflected by key results below:

  • Gradual annual increase of the male and female VET graduates employed by industry leading to 10% increase.
  • Gradual annual increase in employers’ satisfaction rate on the relevance of skills, competencies, and attitudes of the graduates leading to 4.5 out of 5 scale.
  • Gradual annual increase in the share of companies from Poly partnership portfolio that hire interns after graduation leading to 50%.

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