Narotama University was founded in 1981 by lecturers from Airlangga University and the Surabaya Institute of Technology – two of the largest public institutions of higher education in East Java. Over the course of the last three decades, we have developed into a university offering programs from five distinct faculties in Engineering, Law, Economics & Business, Computer Science and Education Science. Going forward, we are preparing to make available PhD programs.

As a private university with 3,500 students, the vast majority of our funding comes from the Pawiyatan Gita Patria foundation. This foundation owns and operates multiple businesses in the Surabaya area such as hotels and will soon open a hospital located in close proximity to our campus. This will facilitate our ability to soon establish a faculty of medicine, as current government regulations make it necessary for a university to have a hospital facility for a year prior to offering programs in medicine and healthcare. Establishing a faculty of medicine is also in keeping with our university slogan, ‘love for the nation’, in that we hope to contribute to the availability of skilled healthcare professionals serving patients across the country.

Narotama University aims to achieve the extraordinary, and in doing so implements a well-structured strategy based on the core principles of efficiency and effectiveness. Without an effective plan of action, Indonesia’s education sector with more than 3,000 universities can prove to be very challenging. We must also keep in mind that next year will see greater regional integration in line with the ASEAN Economic Community, and so our university must prepare to compete not only with the many local institutions but also those in neighbouring markets.

One of our approaches to staying competitive is the implementation of an integrated management system overseeing all academic activities, finances, human resources and quality assurance. Internal efficiency builds towards a better university experience and a thriving academic environment for our students and faculty members. Through information presented via our comprehensive IT system and provided by on-campus managers tasked with supervising every university session, Narotama University’s leaders are able to gain a clear insight into the institutions day-to-day operations, and are thus ideally positioned to make decisions that suit its long term interests.

In keeping with the mindset that our students should be viewed as partners, we are also focused on the concept of ‘edutainment’ to ensure that students are always engaged and encouraged to express their creativity. Moreover, we are among one of the few universities in Indonesia to have already received accreditation at the institutional level, as opposed to just for each of our individual courses. Out of the 3,000 universities in the country, only a select group of 300 have put in the time and effort needed to achieve this accreditation.

During his campaign for the presidency, Jokowi was clear in his support for the development of Indonesia’s human resources.

He identified it as the platform from which the country could strengthen its position as an influential global leader. To really establish Indonesia as a strong country, it is necessary to create individuals that possess not only conventional intelligence but also emotional intelligence and good character. It is in this aspect that higher education has a substantial role to play, and we expect that Jokowi will take steps to make sure that the next generation of great Indonesian minds are also driven by a love for their country and a motivation to contribute to the well-being of their society. Indonesia has been projected to become the world’s 7th biggest economy by 2030, and to make the most of this potential the country should focus on character building carried out together with a first-rate education.

Narotama University is committed to supporting SMEs in Indonesia as key contributors to the country’s economic development. This support entails cooperation with national certification agencies to create a recognised certification in the field of SME development, which would enable our students to become leaders in this field. From an international perspective, we also invite overseas partners to examine and study Indonesian SMEs, as we believe that they can serve as unique case studies for those engaged in entrepreneurship studies.

It is our priority to continue to collaborate with educational institutions based in France, in line with G2G collaboration that has already taken place between this country and Indonesia. Our university offers a French language course so as to position our students to succeed should they wish to pursue careers in one of the many countries that speak French. We have also partnered with universities in the Netherlands to further develop our Faculty of Law. In addition to this, our university also works with several institutions of higher education in the ASEAN, in anticipation of greater regional integration.

Aligning with the needs of industry is central to our strategy to best serve multinationals looking for highly skilled human resources. This involves the introduction of results-oriented programs designed to produce graduates with the ideal set of competencies, personality traits and certifications. Indonesia is on the cusp of being subject to a huge number of overseas workers looking for employment, and at present these individuals would outperform our local labour force. It is therefore our responsibility to address this by equipping our students with advanced competencies in specialised fields through free training sessions to complement their in-class education.

During the last economic crisis, Indonesia was saved by the strength and resiliency of its SMEs. Narotama University therefore welcomes more partnerships for research and community empowerment initiatives focused on encouraging the continued development of SMEs.