IO, Surabaya – Answering the high demand for actuaries in Indonesia, the Institute of Technology Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) Surabaya has opened a new department called ‘Actuarial’. This due to the lack of human resources in the actuary field the country; there are not many educational institutions opening actuarial courses.
The establishment of this Actuarial Department follows an instruction of the Minister of National Education of the Republic of Indonesia in 2012. With thorough preparation, since 2018, ITS has officially opened the Actuarial Department. ‘The establishment of this actuarial department in ITS is meant to assist the fulfilment of demand for actuaries that is still lacking in Indonesia,’ explained R Mohamad Atok SSi MSi PhD, Head of Economy Statistics, Finance and Actuarial Laboratory, on Wednesday (31/1).
According to the lecture of the Statistics Department in ITS, there are more companies and business centres that are developing in Indonesia, creating demand for professionals who are able to apply financial science and statistics theory in the business world, where demand has increased. ‘On the other hand, the increased demand is not supported by a sufficient number of appropriate human resources,’ said the man known as Atok.
Considering there are no state universities in Indonesia offering any study program or department in this field, in 2012 the Minister of National Education instructed five favorite state universities in Indonesia to establish an actuarial department. ‘Those five universities are ITB, IPB, UGM, ITS and UI. However, in 2016, IPB already opened actuarial (department) courses,’ explained Atok, who was entrusted with assisting the establishment of an actuarial department in ITS.
Atok stated that ITS needed two years to prepare the establishment of this actuarial department. It had a program to support the establishment of an actuarial study program, by training statistics lecturers. The lecturers were prepared to teach actuarial science later on. Moreover, in order to make this new study program work, ITS collaborates with Waterloo University in Canada. In the University of Indonesia, this actuarial department was officially established in 2018.
The man wearing glasses explained that 70 percent of actuarial science was also learned in statistics. What distinguished it was that it not only discussed chance, but also calculated risk. Therefore, Rector of ITS, Prof Ir Joni Hermana MScES PhD, has formed a team to prepare and handle such a field. ‘Statistics, business management and math are related sciences in developing actuarial,’ he said.
In 2018, it is expected that actuarial in ITS will open registration through SNMPTN, SBMPTN and Independent and Partnership Programs (PKM). A total of 60 students are expected to be accepted from those three selections.
In the future, after opening this Actuarial department, is expected to exert a significant impact and to be able to meet the high demand for actuaries in businesses in Indonesia, since from ancient times, the fulfilment of actuaries in Indonesia actually comes from abroad. ‘Hopefully, this Actuarial curriculum in ITS will be able to make a significant contribution and be able to provide qualified professionals for Indonesia,’ he stated.
(HUMAS ITS)