Udayana University Launches the Independent Entrepreneurial Program Batch 2, Followed by 8 Universities in Bali

Udayana University (Unud) held the Launching of the Independent Entrepreneurial Program Batch 2 of 2023 at the Agrocomplex Building, 4th Floor, Sudirman Campus, Monday (14/08/2023). This activity presented three speakers including Shandy Aditya BIB., MPBS. as the Implementation Team for the Independent Entrepreneurial Program Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology, Ida Bagus Agung Gunarthawa as Co-Founder of Samsara Living Museum, and Komang Oka Saputra, S.T., M.T., Ph.D. from the Udayana University Information Resources Unit.

Chairperson of the Organizing Committee for the Independent Entrepreneurial Program at Udayana University Dr. Ir. I Ketut Sardiana, M.Si in his report said that the Independent Entrepreneurial Program or abbreviated as WMK which is now in its second generation is the flagship program of the Merdeka Campus from the Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), where this program aims to provide learning and self-development into prospective entrepreneurs through activities outside the lecture class.

Udayana University in 2023 is one of 34 tertiary institutions throughout Indonesia that was selected as the WMK implementer, after passing the selection process carried out by the Ministry of Education and Culture's WMK central executive. The WMK program at Udayana University involved 331 participants, 33 DPLs, 30 UKM partners, and more than 20 reputable figures or entrepreneurial practitioners as resource persons from both Bali and outside Bali. Participants came from 8 State Universities and Private Universities throughout Bali, namely Unud (198 people), Panji Sakti University (54 people), ISI Denpasar (54 people), Dwijendra University (16 people), Bali Institute of Technology and Education Markandeya (4 people), Warmadewa University (2 people), Dhyana Pura University (2 people), University of National Education (1 person).

The WMK Program Batch 2 Unud lasts for 20 weeks or 900 hours which is equivalent to 20 credits, starting from consisting of several stages, namely learning to grow a mindset and basic entrepreneurial skills, apprenticeship in UKM, Bootcamp to develop business models and prototypes, and ends with an expo and investment summit.

Ministry of Education and Culture Center WMK Implementation Team Shandy Aditya BIB., MPBS. on this occasion said that entrepreneurship has become one of the main targets in Indonesia, this is because Indonesia is currently still not qualified to be called a developed country because the number of entrepreneurs still does not meet the standards. Of course, this can be started from the student level where students already have the knowledge and are very critical and ready to become the forefront in opening employment opportunities.

In accordance with the direction of the Minister of Education and Culture on how to create entrepreneurial hubs throughout Indonesia, not only the Ministry of Education and Culture but more than about 9 institutions in the government work together to support so that they can meet the standard for the number of entrepreneurs in Indonesia when it later becomes Indonesia gold.

Meanwhile the Vice Rector for Student Affairs Prof. Ngakan Putu Gede Suardana in his remarks said that the WMK program was in line with Presidential Regulation No. 2 of 2022, namely to reach one million young entrepreneurs in 2024. Of course, current students will later become young entrepreneurs. "Don't always think about how to get a job after graduation, you should think as a job creator, namely how to create jobs," he said.

The Vice Rector hopes that the participants will keep their enthusiasm to become young entrepreneur candidates and not stop halfway, of course later for one semester they will be given debriefings and so on and can be recognized as 20 credits. Apart from the students who benefit from participating in this WMK, the institution also benefits because it is one of the achievements of Key Performance Indicator (IKU) 1.