BANDUNG – The Universitas Widyatama Career Bureau, together with dozens of Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners from various industrial sectors, held an “HRD Gathering” on Thursday, July 24th, 2025. The event, held in the Seminar Room of Building B at Universitas Widyatama, became a strategic forum to bridge the needs of the world of work with higher education curricula. As part of the Widyatama Open House Volume 2 series, this dialogue aimed to strengthen synergy to create graduates who are not only academically competent but also relevant to the challenges of the times.
This initiative was warmly welcomed by the industry leaders in attendance. They emphasized the importance of active collaboration between campuses and companies to ensure the relevance of education. The dynamic business world demands periodic curriculum adaptation so that graduates can respond to the ever-changing market needs. Therefore, forums such as this are considered a crucial first step in building sustainable and mutually beneficial partnerships for both parties.
Industry Voices The Need for Today’s Talent
Sandra Sunanto, Ph.D. (CEO of PT. Hartadinata Abadi Tbk) was a guest speaker at the HRD Gathering event held by the Career Bureau of Widyatama University.
From an industry perspective, involvement in the education process is a must. Sandra Sunanto, Ph.D., CEO of PT. Hartadinata Abadi Tbk, stated that the business world is very open to collaboration. According to her, collaboration is not limited to labor absorption, but also includes curriculum design and the development of existing human resource competencies within the company.
“The industry must always be involved in many things. Why? Because the world has changed a lot. We are also very open to participating in providing advice on the curriculum, because the situation now is very different from 10 or even 20 years ago,” said Sandra. She also added her hope that universities can help the industry through workshop programs or leadership training for managers in companies.
This need arises because each industry has specific challenges in addition to other general needs. By directly involving practitioners, universities can design more applicable and precise learning programs. In other words, universities are expected to function not only as ivory towers, but as active strategic partners in the national economic and employment ecosystem.
Campus Strategies Responding to Industry Challenges
Pipin Sukandi, S.E., M.M., Head of the Career Bureau at Universitas Widyatama, during an interview at the HRD Gathering event.
Responding to these needs, Universitas Widyatama has affirmed its commitment to preparing students holistically. The Head of the Career Bureau at Widyatama University, Pipin Sukandi, S.E., M.M., explained that the current curriculum has been designed to cover two main paths for graduates, namely becoming professionals in the world of work or becoming entrepreneurs who create job opportunities.
According to Pipin, academic competence alone is not enough. The university actively encourages students to develop soft skills such as communication and leadership through various student activity units (UKM). This aims to produce work-ready graduates with a complete set of skills, in line with the high expectations of the modern industrial world.
“The expectation for Widyatama graduates is not only to rely on what is taught in the classroom. So, in a sense, students must be like a supermarket, capable of everything and having everything, so that whatever the industry needs, they are ready,” said Pipin. This statement underlines the university’s vision to produce versatile and adaptive talents.
In conclusion, this HRD Gathering is clear evidence of a shared awareness between the education sector and industry of the importance of synergy. It is hoped that this collaboration will not end as a ceremonial event, but will continue into concrete actions such as joint curriculum updates, structured internship programs, and joint training. This step is a long-term investment to ensure that Indonesia has superior human resources capable of competing on the global stage.
The Signing of MoU with industry partners at the HRD Gathering event held by the Career Bureau of Universitas Widyatama.
