UNU Jogja and the Djarum Foundation Develop Teaching Factory Ready to Produce Innovations in Line with Global Industry Needs

Kudus, Indonesia - In follow-up to the Djarum Foundation's support of the teaching factory's development at UNU Jogja, its leaders, lecturers, and students visited several secondary schools supported by the foundation in Kudus from February 24 to 25, 2025. The purpose of this benchmarking trip was to inspire world-class innovation for the establishment of a teaching factory. 

The schools visited are vocational schools that have developed teaching factories in various industry-specific fields with the support of the Djarum Foundation. These schools include SMK 2 PGRI, which has a teaching factory in the culinary arts department; SMK NU Maarif, which has a teaching factory in welding, mechanical engineering, and metal fabrication; SMK Raden Umar Said, which has a teaching factory in animation and visual communication design; and SMK Wisudha Karya, which has a teaching factory in nautical studies, commercial shipbuilding, mechanical engineering, and mechatronics. 

UNU Jogja Executive Rector Brian Edityanto stated that this visit provided the academic community with an opportunity to learn how to prepare a teaching factory at UNU Jogja. He also expressed his appreciation to the Djarum Foundation for providing this opportunity and a warm welcome during the trip. "This visit will serve as a foundation for developing a teaching factory at UNU Jogja through innovation and collaboration across study programs," he said. 

Meanwhile, Primadi Serad, the Director of the Djarum Foundation Program, stated that the Djarum Foundation has partnered with 20 vocational schools in Kudus to develop teaching factories with specialized competencies in each school. "We align the curriculum in the vocational schools we mentor with industry needs. The second phase involves training teachers and placing them in internships to ensure that vocational school graduates can secure employment," he said. 

Through this initiative, students from teaching factory vocational schools can gain practical experience and develop high-level competencies, producing products that meet industry needs. “Our goal is to have 85 percent of graduates be hired at salaries twice the regional minimum wage (UMR), thereby redefining vocational schools as institutions that eradicate poverty,” Primadi said. 

Those participating in the visit included Senior Vice Rector for Religious Affairs Abdul Ghoffar; Dean of the Faculty of Information Technology (FTI), Mochamad Syamsiro; Dean of the Faculty of Halal Industry (FIH), Fahrizal Yusuf Affandi; and other UNU Jogja officials. Additionally, dozens of lecturers and students from the Electrical Engineering, Informatics, and Computer Engineering Study Programs from FTI, as well as the Agribusiness and Agricultural Product Technology Study Programs from FIH, participated. "From our visit to several teaching factories developed by the Djarum Foundation, we found that they all have one thing in common: their ability to meet industry needs," said FIH Dean Fahrizal Yusuf Affandi. 

Prior to the visit, the university community received training on teaching factories in a workshop titled "Teaching Factory and Project-Based Learning" with Wikan Sakarinto, an academic and teaching factory practitioner, on Friday, February 21. 

During a meeting on February 7, 2025, between Djarum Foundation Program Director Primadi Serad and UNU Jogja Rector Widya Priyahita, along with several other university officials, the Djarum Foundation’s commitment to supporting the development of teaching factories at UNU Jogja was reaffirmed. "With the support of the Djarum Foundation, the Teaching Factory at UNU Jogja will serve as a training and innovation hub, particularly for students in the Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Computer Technology, THP, and Agribusiness programs," said the rector. [Arif]