Revised National Geology Curriculum Should Better Prepare For AEC Challenges

Delft, the Netherlands, Nov 10 (Antara) - The national curriculum of geological engineering applied at the Indonesian higher education institutional level should be able to churn out competitive graduates in order to better deal with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 challenges. "The year of 2014 is an important moment for all Geological Engineering departments in Indonesia as in 2016, there will be a transformation in the national higher education curriculum," Salahuddin Husein, an academician of Geological Engineering at the Gadjah Mada University (UGM), noted in his statement received here on Monday. He explained that the curriculum transformation at the national higher educational level is related to the implementation of AEC 2015 and the ASEAN free market. "We need to synchronize the perception about the geology educational program at the higher education level. Also, we need to create consciousness about the regional challenges that highly influence the regional work market," Salahuddin emphasized. According to him, the key to being better prepared for facing the AEC is building the national curriculum based on the vision and mission of the geological engineering educational department, so that we are able to compete at the regional and global level. Earlier, the Geological Engineering department of UGM had organized a national seminar themed, "Strengthening the Education and Research Networks of Earth Science." "Education is the main topic in the discussion about Earth Science," he stated, adding that the seminar was a forum to disseminate the research findings on Earth Science, involving academicians, practitioners, and students. The five categories discussed during the seminar were education, geological environment, energy resources, mineral resources, and geodynamics.