Competencies to work in public health area: Perceptions of graduates and employers in Indonesia

Rapid changes in employment situation due to the globalization of employment and revolution in information technology and other disciplines demand appropriate anticipation and a thorough evaluation on competence needed by employment.  Higher education institution should respond to those changes as to maintain the relevance of higher education in the community. Faculty of Public Health, University of Indonesia (FPHUI) as a leading higher education institution in public health in Indonesia has initiated studies on graduates and employers’ perception on competencies in 2006 Qualitative Tracer Study and Workshop on Mapping the Competitiveness of University Graduates in 2007.  Different methods, namely self-administered questionnaire, face-to-face interview, focus group discussion, and workshop were employed to gather information from respondents.  The studies found that involvement in research project during study is deemed important in supplementing skills needed in the real world of work.  It is also noted that ”soft-skills”, in particular communicative skills including English proficiency, organizational skills, and interpersonal skills are perceived by both graduates and employers as essential competencies, yet felt as lacking and need to be improved.   Graduates perceived the strength of generic and multidisciplinarity nature of public health as discipline differently as they perceived that specific skills are needed more than generic skills.  However, Public Health as a discipline that combine both exact and social sciences provide wider employment areas compared to other discipline within the health sciences such as Medicine or Nursing, as proven in the variety of job occupied by graduates. Most of the employers were satisfied with FPHUI graduates but pointed out that hand-on field experiences should be increased to improve teamwork and interpersonal skill.  It is suggested that FPHUI consider the above findings and the importance of practical learning, field work and apprenticeship as an integral part of its education structure to anticipate the changes in employment competencies.