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Well, first of all, successful students in this area tend to be really good with technical proficiency and being able to adapt to new technologies. (Laughs)
But that simple answer aside, I’d advise students to focus on foundational skills. This will help them to be well-rounded and always be relevant.
Technology changes quickly - hard tech skills can be obsolete tomorrow.
So, it’s really important that students also focus on honing their professional skills (or soft skills). This is something that’s required for success across any field.
Effective oral communication skills are vital in the workplace, especially in today’s global economy where collaboration and teamwork are increasingly common.
This rings even more true in a complex field like blockchain - students must be able to articulate ideas, discuss concepts, and present information to non-technical stakeholders like colleagues, customers, or investors.
Developing an understanding of the world and its people is also really important.
You know, times have changed since I entered the workforce. We didn’t use to think beyond our home city, and we only interacted with people close to us physically.
Nowadays though, we often work with people around the globe. Students who can communicate effectively with people from different cultures and backgrounds will have a competitive advantage.
The key to this is developing empathy, active listening, and emotional intelligence. Having wide knowledge of culture allows students to put themselves in others’ shoes and communicate with compassion and understanding.
Yes, developing oral communication skills can be tough. In school, some students are hesitant to raise their hand and put themselves forward. But if you don’t do that for yourself, who will?
Be confident and willing to stand up and take a role. Express your ideas.
If you’re at a lower part of the organization, don’t aim to be simply a worker. Show leadership skills and take responsibility for the things that you’re doing.
Universities are still trying to find out what the best mode of communication is.
Following the pandemic, people are saying that the future of education is online.
But we realized that there are limits with online instruction. There are certain kinds of interaction and communication that’s more effective with face-to-face learning.
At this point, it’s still quite strange! There are groups of students who have expressed that they’re thrilled to be back in person at university - but equally there are groups that still wish that they’re at home. (Laughs)
The challenge is to take the best of both models and integrate them well - developing hybrid models, if you will. Ultimately, the question is - what do we do to make an effective classroom?
One of the biggest challenges today is training teachers to conduct effective lessons online. You can’t just take teaching methods and try to staple them online. We have to do things differently, cut things into really small chunks and organize lessons differently.
The pandemic and the subsequent shift to online learning required teachers to learn quickly, and it was tough for them to transition suddenly.
But that’s the next step - we need to focus on training teachers to utilize both in-person and online models effectively. We should also look at providing instructors with the correct tools to do that.
But academic learning isn’t all that universities provide for students. Really, it’s more than simply delivering a product. Caring for students is part of higher education, and it’s important that we also look at how we can provide students with other services. The key thing is to look for as many ways as possible to connect students with normal day-to-day activities.
When we were online, some students became isolated - students from rural areas are more easily affected - and needed health care services. This is tricky to provide online.
We have students from all over the archipelago. We’re always looking for more ways to connect students with us and each other.
Some of the things we try to do include setting up discussion groups. We connect students to mentors and organizations to do online activities.
In terms of career services, we organized a lot of online presentations by alumni. Also, we couldn’t do in-person Olympic events, so we did it online - it was totally different but it turned out really well!
After learning about blockchain, I’m really impressed with its potential!
It’s important to us that we provide students with the fullest possible learning experience.
If you can combine theoretical and practical experience, you learn better.
This isn’t a secret - most educational theories suggest that if you can learn through multiple channels and senses you learn better.
Therefore, as a person in administration, I’m always looking for ways to bring hands-on experiences like this blockchain workshop to students.
This goes for anything - even ancient technologies like welding, building a house are learned better with hands-on experience and real-time feedback.
Partnerships like this really enhance our university.
Of course, we teach things out of textbooks. But when we bring people and organizations like TZ APAC into discussion or programming, it adds that real world dimension - something that we can’t really provide all by ourselves.
Our instructors have the knowledge. But TZ APAC is on the ground. You’re executing and being incredible experts!
Universities can’t do that in-house. But by establishing partnerships like this, we can bring incredible experiences and extra knowledge in a field that’s developing so thoroughly and hasn’t made its way into our curriculum yet.
Universities are slow. We have to form committees to decide what food to serve at graduation! (Laughs heartily)
Curriculum is slow to catch up with the reality of the world.
This is where TZ APAC comes in - you’re at that place currently. You provide an incredible service to students - a great, great, addition to their education.
Partnerships like this are a great way to get students connected with knowledge.
They are mutually beneficial, and they really formulate a win-win relationship where you can see what our students are like and developing talent within Indonesia. Students benefit from incredible knowledge and connections.
So, that’s why we’re extremely happy to develop partnerships with groups like TZ APAC.
Take advantage of programs like this!
Students have lots of demands on their time. For example, getting good grades in traditional classes.
But these kinds of experiences are equally as important as formal classes. Students receive knowledge so new it hasn’t found its way into schools yet.
Connecting with people in the field who can give you career advice is really important. The more you connect with people, the more leads you get. It’s a great way of networking.
I’d really urge students to take part in these programs. If you’re entering an emerging field, you need to do everything possible to keep your knowledge up to date - go beyond what’s taught which sometimes emphasizes declining fields.
For example, in my time as an English and Communications major, we were talking a lot about newspapers, print, and even the telegraph!
Clearly, communication went in a wildly different direction.
It’s important to do projects. Anything that’s hands-on…it’s also important to work with professors and do projects with them.
They can teach you how to develop and research, which is really important.
If there’s an emerging field you’re incredibly interested in, it may be challenging to find a job or summer internship. Volunteer your services - if you’re able to do so, offer it for free! Just to learn about what they do in their businesses. Take advantage of that.
Additionally, it’s important for students of ANY field to develop projects where you help out a community in Indonesia that doesn’t have resources. You learn a lot of valuable skills, but you also realize how gratifying and important it is to support your community. Really, students who do that tend to be more successful.
If you have travel opportunities to see emerging fields, take them! The more cultures you’re exposed to, you’ll be a better fit for most organizations. This really helps your career.
Many organizations are multinational. It’s important to go to a country that doesn’t serve Nasi Goreng for every meal! (Laughs heartily)
Don’t be afraid to try new opportunities - do things that are daring and different.
Go out of your comfort zone when possible. In emerging technologies, successful companies are pioneering in their fields. They think out of the box, and it’s important for you to be able to get out of your own personal box.
At the end of the day, we’re excited to work with TZ APAC and develop amazing opportunities for the students of Sampoerna University!
