About the Skills Exchange

Designed to address unequal information flow between Australian education providers and Indonesian industry, the Indonesia-Australia Skills Exchange is an online platform that allows business matching between the two to facilitate greater skills development in the Indonesian workforce.

The Indonesian Government, as well as industry, have expressed frustration at the challenges around skills shortages and labour productivity. Consequently, high-quality skills development activities for employees are prioritised by Indonesian industry to address skill gaps. Australia is well-positioned to provide support to Indonesia to address skills gaps due to Australia’s highly regarded vocational education system and deep connections with industry.

Indonesia’s workforce is heavily focused on labour-intensive industry. More than 60% of the population do not go on to study beyond their senior high school or senior vocational high school certificate, and a significant percentage of the workforce do not have a formal qualification. At the same time, Indonesia’s government-driven vocational education system struggles to provide the skills needed to align the workforce with the skills needs of industry.

The Skills Exchange aims to facilitate large-scale commercial partnerships between Indonesian businesses and Australian education providers, with plans for the platform to reach financial sustainability in the first two years of its operation. Through the Skills Exchange platform, Indonesian businesses will be able to articulate their skills needs and Australian providers will be able to respond and showcase their capabilities. A closer relationship between Indonesian industry with the Australian education sector will be forged through the Skills Exchange, resulting in thousands of Indonesian workers upskilled and reskilled through collaborative training activities.

Human capital development is one of the five priorities of the Government of Indonesia in achieving its economic growth ambitions, eradicating poverty, and improving welfare. The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the economy and the labour market, and it has made skills development more important to increase preparedness in meeting industry needs and accelerate economic recovery.

The Katalis Skills Exchange will initially focus on priority sectors where women, people with disabilities and people from minority groups are well represented (e.g., health, tourism, and digital services) and include GEDSI goals and targets. The training conducted through the partnerships will also encourage participations from GEDSI groups.