Singaraja- Ganesha University of Education (Undiksha) continues to strive to create competitive students and graduates. The steps taken are not only to maintain the quality of the academic field but also to develop other potentials, one of which is entrepreneurship through the Student Entrepreneurship Program (PMW). Through the Technical Implementation Unit for Student Career Development and Entrepreneurship (UPT-PKKM), this national program was socialized online to students, Tuesday (20/4/2021). Undiksha Academician, I Putu Pasek Suryawan, S.Pd., M.Pd., was presented as a guest speaker.
The General Coordinator of Undiksha’s PMW Implementation, Made Ary Meitriana, S.Pd., M.Pd., explained that PMW is one of the programs of the Directorate General of Higher Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture which is aimed at all state universities and several selected private universities. Undiksha is one of the state tertiary institutions that participate in the program and captures the entrepreneurial phenomenon as something that can be taken seriously so that this activity is routinely carried out every year. “The aim of implementing this PMW is to develop new entrepreneurs who are highly educated, foster entrepreneurial motivation among students, improve the skills and skills of students, create new business units based on science, technology, and art, and build business networks between business actors. “starter entrepreneurs and established entrepreneurs,” he explained.
Delivered further, this program is also included as one of the prestigious events in the national level competition. Undiksha also wants students to be able to participate and be able to make achievements. There are a number of stages in this competition, starting with socialization to students, submission of proposals, static and dynamic selection of potential participants, the announcement of acceptance, debriefing, and finalization of business and apprenticeships, start-up entrepreneurs, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation, reporting on the progress of PMW recipients, as well as reporting the receiving end of the program. “This year, the total capital assistance that has been rolled out to the student entrepreneur program is IDR 150 million. We hope that this year’s PMW participants will be able to run entrepreneurship in a sustainable manner,” he said.
Deputy Chancellor for Student Affairs, Alumni, and Public Relations of Undiksha, Prof. Dr. I Wayan Suastra, M.Pd., when opening the activity said that in the midst of increasingly fierce competition, students need to hone entrepreneurial competence which at the same time serves as a medium to train hard work, be ready to face risks, be able to make decisions, and expand networks. “I hope that the entire academic community will always be active in developing entrepreneurship programs which will be very much needed later, especially in a pandemic situation like today. Situations that demand us to always innovate, have creativity, and have endurance,” he said.
Furthermore, the Deputy Chancellor from Klungkung Regency said that student entrepreneurship is one of the main performance indicators of higher education institutions. The important point is what percentage of students are involved in entrepreneurial activities. For this reason, Undiksha continues to promote this program. “This entrepreneurial activity is really needed to produce young entrepreneurs who can develop later. We continue to encourage it through various existing programs, one of which is a webinar. If students often attend these webinars, their mindset will change from those that tend to be ignorant and their routine is only limited to attending lectures, to become more interested in starting entrepreneurship,” he explained.
He emphasized again that he really supports this activity and always strives for a larger portion of funds for student competency development activities. It is hoped that this will receive support from PKKM to find “adoptive fathers” for students who are entrepreneurs so they can collaborate in companies both in Bali and outside Bali so that in the future the program can run better. “The hope of this year’s Undiksha is to produce several students who qualify for national programs start up. If students are successful, the university will feel happy and proud,” he concluded. (hms)