THE ROLE OF EDUCATION MANAGEMENT IN FACING THE ASEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY AND STRENGTHENING MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES

Fachri Widana Master of Education Management

State University of Jakarta [email protected]

Abstract

Education has an important role and is a capital in facing the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Education is an alternative in human resource development, increasing human resources is expected to be able to make a positive contribution to the development and growth of the country. Increasing human resources is important to increase the country's competitive advantage. The analysis technique of this research involves interpretation using a qualitative approach (critical reasoning). Universities have a role not only in producing graduates who only have intellectual intelligence (hard skills) but also must be able to produce graduates who have more ability (soft skills). Changing the paradigm of graduates from job seekers to job creators. There is a need to strengthen the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) sector in order to support the nation's economy. Synergy between the government, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals is needed in order to achieve state goals.

Keywords: Education, ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs)

Abstract

Education has an important role and a capital in the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Education is becoming an alternative to human resource development, human resource development is expected to contribute postitif in the development and growth of the country. Improvement of human resources becomes essential to improve the competitive edge of the country. The analysis technique involves the interpretation of this study using a qualitative approach (critical reasoning). The college has a role not only produce graduates who have only intellectually intelligence alone (hard skills) but also must be able to produce graduates who have the Traffic over (soft skills). Changing the paradigm of graduates of job seekers into job creators. Need for strengthening the SME sector in order to shore up the nation's economy. Need sinegisitas between the government, businessmen, and intellectuals in order to achieve state goals.

Keywords: Education, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), and Small Micro and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Introduction

Change is an inevitable occurrence. The flow of globalization is getting faster and requires us to always make changes. Change is a challenge that we must face and need capital in ourselves to be able to compete in global competition.

At the end of 2015, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be officially enforced. There are no more barriers between countries in the ASEAN region. Increasingly open competition encourages a country to have an advantage both comparatively and absolutely, in order to continue to exist in the MEA arena. Every country must prepare itself to face such competition.

The results of the BAPPENAS seminar (May 28, 2014) in dealing with Indonesia's MEA are not without problems, there are several things that Indonesia still needs to improve, including:

1.         The number of disguised unemployment is still high;

2.         The low number of new entrepreneurs to accelerate the expansion of job opportunities;

3.         Indonesian workers are dominated by uneducated workers so that labor productivity becomes low;

4.         The increasing number of unemployed educated workers, due to the mismatch between university graduates and the needs of the labor market;

5.         Inequality in labor productivity between economic sectors;

6.         The informal sector dominates employment, where this sector has not received optimal attention from the government;

7.         Unemployment in Indonesia is the highest unemployment out of 10 ASEAN member countries; the unpreparedness of skilled labor in facing the 2015 MEA;

8.         Workers' demands for minimum wages, contract labor, and employment social security; and

9.         The problem of Indonesia's workforce is widely spread abroad.

The most important thing is to prepare quality and highly competitive human resources. Adequate human capital will facilitate the acceleration of the country's development and growth. To prepare  quality human capital, the state needs to pay attention and be able to maximize resources that can support to develop human capital.

The steps that can be taken are to strengthen in the education sector, both formal, non-formal and informal education. This aims to open the widest possible opportunities for existing human resources (HR) to learn and improve their capacity through education that can be used as a vehicle for investment. The importance of investment in education is supported by Gary S Baker (Cornelia Butler Flora et al, 2015:110) who states that capital is not always in the form of a bank account, it will

But there is capital in the form of intangible. One of these intangible capital is education.

Law of the Republic of Indonesia Number 20 of 2003 concerning the National Education System states that education is a conscious and planned effort to create a learning atmosphere and learning process so that students actively develop their potential to have religious spiritual strength, self-control, personality, intelligence, noble morals, and skills needed by themselves, society, nation and state. Then it is also explained the educational paths that can be taken, namely formal, informal and non-formal education paths. Ki Hajar Dewantara (1987:2) Education is all efforts to advance children's ethics, mind and body, in order to advance the perfection of life, namely living and reviving children in harmony with nature and society.

Education is not only limited to the ritual of knowledge transfer carried out by a teacher to students, but teachers must provide the widest possible space for students to explore in building a complete framework of knowledge obtained from the results of the experiences that students get so as to give birth to a meaningful learning experience.

MEA is an acronym for the ASEAN Economic Community which has a pattern of integrating the ASEAN economy by forming a free trade system  between ASEAN member countries. ASEAN Economic Community Blueprint (2008:6) AEC envisages the following key characteristics:

(a) a single market and production base, (b) a highly competitive economic region, (c) a region of equitable economic development, and (d) a region fully integrated into the global economy. If viewed positively, the MEA is a means to reduce the gap between countries in the ASEAN region in terms of economic growth by increasing the dependence of ASEAN members in it. The MEA will be a good opportunity as trade barriers and barriers will tend to decrease or even non-existent. This will have an impact on increasing exports and ultimately increasing Indonesia's GDP.

Method

This study uses a qualitative approach. Where is this research

using a natural setting with the intention of interpreting the phenomenon that occurs and is carried out in a way involving existing methods. In order for the results of the research to be used to interpret existing phenomena, it is necessary to approach using analytical techniques in which in this case a critical reasoning approach is carried out. Next, the analysis technique of this research involves interpretation using a qualitative approach (critical reasoning).

The types and sources of data are derived from books and related journals inductively. This inductive analysis is used to find the reality-

plural reality as contained in data and more can make the relationship between researcher and respondent explicit, recognizable and accountable.

Results of the Discussion

1.    MEA Competition Climate

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) which has a pattern of integrating the ASEAN economy by forming a free trade system between ASEAN member countries. Thinking Globally, Prospering Regionally – ASEAN Economic Community 2015 (2014:3) AEC will "establish ASEAN as a single market and production base with the goal of making ASEAN more dynamic and competitive." It is a challenge for a country. Every country must be able and ready to compete in the global marketing arena. There are no more barriers between countries in the ASEAN region.

Competition is not only in the form of goods and services, but human resources also have an important role in the progress of a country. Human resources must have high competitiveness in dealing with MEA. The competition to get a job is getting tighter, competitors to get jobs not only from within the country but also from the ASEAN region are ready to expand to Indonesia to get jobs.

The users of labor services not only have high expertise specifications from each of their workforce. Not only a high GPA but also have other abilities (soft skills) needed by the company. National Association of Colleges and Employers Hendrawan et al., (2012:67) stated that "in general, labor users need work skills in the form of 82% soft skills and 18% hard skills".

In dealing with Indonesia's MEA, it is not without problems, there are several things that Indonesia still needs to improve, including:

a.    The number of disguised unemployment is still high;

b.    The low number of new entrepreneurs to accelerate the expansion of job opportunities;

c.     Indonesian workers are dominated by uneducated workers so that labor productivity is low;

d.    The increasing number of unemployed educated workers, due to the mismatch between university graduates and the needs of the labor market;

e.    Inequality in labor productivity between economic sectors;

f.      The informal sector dominates employment, where this sector has not received optimal attention from the government;

g.    Unemployment in Indonesia is the highest unemployment out of 10 ASEAN member countries; the unpreparedness of skilled labor in facing the 2015 MEA;

h.    Workers' demands for minimum wages, contract labor, and employment social security; and

i.      The problem of Indonesia's workforce is widely spread abroad.

The Urgency of Education in Facing the MEA

In the face of the 2015 MEA, it has been stated that Indonesia has a crucial problem that needs to be given drugs to be able to compete in the MEA arena. Becker said capital is not always in the form of money, or bank accounts. Schools, training courses, medical care expenses, and college are all capital.

Human capital is described in the form of skills and knowledge possessed by the workforce. The importance of working capital has been proven in the East Asian region, which has now become a competitive exporter in a short time because it focuses on human resource development as a top priority in economic growth and development.

Education is made the single most important indicator of a person's social and economic success. To build a poor society, it does not have to depend on land, equipment or energy but on building its knowledge, which is in the form of qualitative economic aspects, which is called human capital.

Some of the factors that cause the need to develop the level of education in an effort to build an economy, are:

a.    Higher education expands people's knowledge and enhances the rationality of their thinking. This allows people to take more rational steps in acting or making decisions.

b.    Education enables people to learn the technical knowledge necessary to lead and run modern enterprises and other modern activities.

c.     Better knowledge gained from education is a stimulus to create reforms in the fields of engineering, economics and in various other aspects of people's lives.

Spanbauer in Dadang et al., (2012: 28) stated that there are seven elements in improving the quality of education that must be financed, namely:

a.     Human resources

b.     Curriculum and instruction

c.      Good setting (standard of excellence for design and implementation of operation)

d.     Technology (standard technology)

e.     Marketing

f.       Costumer service

g.     Management (providing leadership of the quality improvement).

Education has high quality if the educational output is of value to the people who need it. Strengthening human resources can be done by carrying out reforms in the administration of education. Education is the key to economic growth, this is supported by Solow in Hendrawan et al., (2012:156)) in the concept of the growth model stating that the driving force for economic growth is education. Highly educated people have a tendency to make it easier to innovate in technology. It was later corroborated by Nelson and Phelps that the education factor determines the ability of the workforce to take advantage of new technologies.

Educational units in Indonesia are grouped as educational services that provide education in formal, non-formal, and informal channels at each level. and types of education. There are at least two educational services that must be developed, namely the formal path of basic education to higher education and the non-formal path. The curriculum in formal education must be formulated in such a way that it not only produces graduates who have job readiness in the labor market, but also seeks to form graduates who can open up jobs.

In addition to the formal path, it needs to be strengthened in the non-formal path. Non-formal education can be provided through seminars, workshops and short courses. In Indonesia, we already have adequate infrastructure, in each region there is a job training center (BLK). Job training centers must be optimized and maximized in function. BLK has great potential to improve and build work skills.

There is a strengthening in the field of education, supporting strengthening in the labor sector which can produce resources that have high competitiveness to face the MEA. As an investment function, education contributes to improving the quality of life, human quality, and national income.

The Role of Education Management as a Supporting Factor in Facing MEA Higher education is a continuation of secondary education that

It is held to prepare students to become members of society who have academic and/or professional abilities who can apply, develop and/or create science, technology and/or art. Universities are obliged to organize education, research, and community service. The university is a university consisting of a number of faculties

that provides academic and/or professional education in a number of specific disciplines.

Higher education is a tool to realize the ideals of improving the life of the nation. Education is a path to permanent liberation and consists of two stages. The first stage is the period in which people become aware of their liberation, which through praxis changes the situation. The second stage builds on the first, and is a liberating process of cultural action. Universities should not only be a supplier of labor, but must be a vehicle that can generate transformative critical thinking. Providing the widest possible space to construct knowledge, so that it will produce graduates who have high innovation from the results of their knowledge construction.

Universities contribute to the formation of human capital that has high competitiveness to deal with MEA. Human capital is described in the form of skills and knowledge possessed by the workforce. Shumpeter in Hendrawan et al., (2012:150) said that in realizing quality human beings, innovation is needed as a motor of productivity. Innovation is the power of thinking with high creativity to create new things, which has maximum usefulness in supporting the success of life. Stigliz added that it is not only limited to creativity and high usefulness, but innovation must also be oriented to global conditions. Sen said that for increasing innovation, increasing the capacity of human resources is the main concern. Increasing the capacity of human resources can be accelerated through investment in human capital that is systematically arranged.

Higher education as a vehicle for producing graduates who excel and have high competitiveness. Universities not only produce graduates who are ready to work, but also graduates who can also be ready to open jobs. Changing the paradigm from job seeker to job creator. Education Management is one of the programs that can support this paradigm change. Education Management has a content of courses that support and support each graduate to have an orientation to job creators, because Education Management not only instills the values of education and pure economics, but also provides additional content to cultivate the entrepreneurial spirit. So that it can give birth to graduates who not only have hard skills but also have soft skills.

With the entrepreneurial ability that each graduate has, it can provide motivation to not always be a job applicant, but to have aspirations to open jobs. Graduates who are able to open new jobs have implications for the absorption of the workforce and the occurrence of income equity. McClelland in Hendrawan et al.,

(2012:67) states that a country can be said to be prosperous, at least  two percent of the total population of entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs.

The more entrepreneurs in Indonesia will provide prosperity for their country. The size of the business that is managed, both at the micro, small or medium business level, has a vital role in the development and growth of the country. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are the backbone of every country, both developed and developing countries. Thornburg in Tulus (2009:1) mentioned that developed countries such as Japan, Germany, France and Canada, MSMEs are used as important engines of economic growth, innovation and technological progress.

The development of technology will encourage someone to continue to innovate. With innovation, it can encourage a change in orientation, the orientation from importer to exporter. To be export-oriented for MSMEs is not without problems, the problems faced are,

a.    There are institutional and business obstacles that cannot be broken by MSMEs because:

1)      They do not have strong access to export markets or have access to information about global market opportunities and requirements.

2)      They are unable to make adjustments to changes that are immediate and rapid in the export market.

3)      There are great risks in the payment and embezzlement of export products, especially late payments can be detrimental to small exporting companies that rely on financing from daily transactions.

4)      There are huge costs involved in direct export activities and most MSMEs cannot afford it due to limited working capital.

b.    Financial problems

1)      The capital of most MSMEs, especially Micro Enterprises, is very limited, not only working capital but also investment capital.

2)      MSMEs do not receive enough support from financial institutions and guarantors in Indonesia.

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The Triple Helix

These three elements are interrelated with each other, innovators have succeeded in creating jobs, absorbing labor and distributing income. It needs to be maintained by the government by providing policies that can develop its business. Large businesses (large businesses) can support the development of small businesses and vice versa. There is a symbiosis of mutualism from these three elements, as an illustration can be illustrated as a struggle.

Newly developed small businesses receive support from the government in the form of ease of setting up a business and capital assistance. Large businesses take advantage of small businesses in obtaining semi-finished raw materials which are then further processed in large businesses, so that the products produced are able to compete in the global market. By increasing productivity in the export sector, this will have an impact on increasing state income in the form of foreign exchange, so that the country's development and growth can be achieved properly.

CONCLUSION

Conclusion: Based on the above description, it can be concluded. Change is a situation that is certain to occur and needs adjustments to be able to compete. Education is the ultimate in the formation of reliable human capital in the face of change. As an investment function, education contributes to improving the quality of life, human quality, and national income. Universities have a role not only in producing graduates who only have intellectual intelligence (hard skills) but also must be able to produce graduates who have more capabilities (soft skills). Changing the paradigm of graduates from job seekers to job creators. There is a need to strengthen the MSME sector in order to support the nation's economy. Synergy between the government, entrepreneurs, and intellectuals is needed in order to achieve state goals.

Recommendations: (a) Strengthening the education sector, providing the widest possible space for the community to receive education so that the goals of education investment can be achieved properly. (b) The education system no longer encourages schools or colleges to only produce ready-to-use labor in the labor market, but prepares every graduate for entrepreneurship. (c) Synergy between policy makers and policy implementers so that the objectives of the policies issued can be implemented properly and have implications for the progress of the country.

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