The Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia opened registration for Batch 5 of the Certified Internship and Independent Study Programme (Program Magang dan Studi Independen Bersertifikat / MSIB). MSIB is one of the primary programmes of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) System. Further in this article, the programme will be mentioned as MSIB per its official name. 

The MSIB programme has given many benefits to the programme participants ever since the commencement of the first batch. Wachyu Hari Haji, the Head of the MSIB 2023 Programme, informed us that the MSIB Programme has many positive effects—one of the effects is that the programme helps the participants to gain work experience. Through this programme, the participants will be able to get a ‘real picture’ of their prospective work environments.

“I am sure that this programme has been properly made and will give working experiences for all of you. This MSIB Programme is more of a place to look for potential employees to work in their companies and this programme opens chances to get the real picture of working experiences in a company,” Wachyu said during MSIB Socialisation through the YouTube Channel of the General Directorate of Higher Education, Research, and Technology (Ditjen Diktiristek) on Monday, 30th May 2023.

The 5th Batch of the MSIB Programme is partnering with companies from multiple sectors. By joining this programme, other than getting experiences, the participants can also start their future career choices. Ayu Shagiira Rahmatika—Officer of University and Student Engagement of the MSIB Programme—added that students joining the programme have a chance to get the ‘golden ticket’ to be a permanent employee through the MSIB Programmes. “Various stories have been told by the alumni of the participants in Batches 1 until 3 of the MSIB Programme where they are directly recruited as employees by our partners,” Ayu said.

In support of Ayu’s statement, Febri Hari Natoro as the representative of Stechoq Robotika—one of the partners for the 5th Batch of the MSIB Programme—stated that there are chances for MSIB participants to be part of his company or the company’s partners, both domestically and internationally. Febri also added, “We will promote the participants’ career performance to our partners which amounted to more than 200. Besides that, there is also the ‘golden ticket’ to becoming an employee at Stechoq. Currently, there are several alumni who have joined our partners as employees, both domestically and internationally.”

Also on the same boat, Ms Fauziah, as the representative of PT Arkatama Multi Solusindo, also pointed out that the MSIB Programme is actually one of the paths to prepare the prospective human resources that will be a part of the company. Thus, through the MSIB Programme, participants can get a huge chance to be a part of the company. Fauziah stated, “For participants willing to be a part of Arkatama, the MSIB Programme becomes a place for the company to prepare prospective employees of Arkatama. So far, there are five participants of the MSIB Programme that have been recruited as an employee.”

In this chance, another partner of the 5th Batch of the MSIB Programme in the field of Technology and Creativity, PT Suitmedia Kreasi Indonesia, also stated the positive benefits that can be gained by the participants of the MSIB programme in the form of ease of getting work in the future. “After finishing the MSIB Programme, the duration between finishing the programme and getting a job will be less when compared to students who are not joining the MSIB programme because the alumni of MSIB has connections through the network that they gained during their internship,” stated Zahra as the representative of PT Suitmedia Kreasi Indonesia.

On the other hand, PT Nestle Indonesia stated that participation in the MSIB Programme allows students to build a strong network which is important in building their careers in the future. “Through the MSIB Programme, the participants can build their own network for the purpose of pursuing their career after graduating from higher education institutions. In this case, a lot of MSIB Programme alumni—previously interning at PT Nestle Indonesia—that are still connected with their mentor and returned to become employees in this company after graduating,” stated Arya, the representative of PT Nestle Indonesia.