Improving HR Quality, BPS and UT Collaborate

The collaboration between two large institutions in Indonesia is worth of follow-up actions in the efforts to develop the institutions by utilizing the resources that can be provide each party. The Central Bureau of Statistics or Badan Pusat Statistik (BPS) is a Non-Ministerial Government Agency which is directly accountable to the President and performs the government roles in statistics, as Indonesia Open University or Universitas Terbuka (UT) is State University that operates higher education under an open and distance higher education system. Both institutions agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday, 27 April 2022 online concerning Education, Research, Community Services, and Human Resources Quality Improvement, as well as other activities mutually agreed by both parties.   

The participants attending the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding included, among others, the Chairman of BPS (Dr. Margo Yuwono, S.Si., M.Si.), the Chief Secretary BPS (Ir. Atqo Mardiyanto, M.Si.), the Chief Inspector (Drs. Achmad Jaelani, M.Si.), and all the deputy chairman in BPS, as well as Middle Senior Officers, Lower Senior Officers, and Heads of all Provincial BPS across Indonesia. The invitees from UT were UT’s Rector, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, Vice Rector for Institutional Development and Partnership, all Deans, Director of Director of the Institute of Research and Community Services (LPPM-UT), Director of the Center for the Development of International Relations and Partnership (PPHIK-UT), Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, and Coordinators at the Office of Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Institutional Development and Partnership.  

UT’s Rector, Prof Ojat Darojat, M.Bus, Ph.D., in his remarks, extended his highest appreciation that BPS has entrusted UT by sending its employees to study in UT with scholarship scheme. With UT, the university that implements Open and Distance Education (ODE) or Pendidikan Terbuka dan Jarak Jauh (PTJJ), Civil Servants (ASN) of BPS can pursue their education as they are still able to performs their duties and jobs on daily basis. The cooperation scheme mutually is the provision of scholarship in fellowship program for the Bachelor Degree or pemberian beasiswa Tugas Belajar (TB APBN BPS S1) in Management, Business Administration, Public Administration that are extended to as many as 773 District Coordinator of Statistics or Koordinator Statistik Kecamatan (KSK) in BPS Regency/City throughout Indonesia, whose highest education is high school/one-year academy (D1). This TB S1 KSK program is affirmation program prescribed by BPS to promote the HR capacity building in KSK. 

In line with UT’s Rector, the Chairman of BPS stated his belief that sending KSK to study in UT is due to the flexibility that the university can offer, such that KSKs are still able to perform their work on daily basis while pursuing their education. There are two reasons that drive BPS to improve its HR quality, especially by focusing on KSK’s competence across Indonesia who will transform to functional officers. Firstly, BPS is currently conducting transformation in various fields amid the disruption era, and therefore, it is necessary to make new HR arrangement in order to adapt to new business processes and organizational structure. Secondly, to implement the regulations of Ministry of State Apparatus Empowerment and Bureaucracy Reform or Kementerian Pendayagunaan Aparatur Negara dan Reformasi Birokrasi (PAN RB) where ministries and agencies are requested to simplify their bureaucracy and upgrade their job titles, as Civil Servants (ASN), that they transform to functional officials. Surely, KSKs must possess exceptional skills, therefore they need competence upgrading.