Synergy of skilled labor preparation: A case study in building engineering program at vocational high school in East Java

Indonesia as the largest construction market in ASEAN has several serious challenges that must be addressed immediately. The low quality of vocational high school graduates in Indonesia including in east java province due to some constraints in the implementation of vocational education such as the challenges and problems of Vocational High School, the relevance of vocational high school with industry, the quality of graduates, competitiveness, and support from business and industry community are still low. This research aims to know the preparation of a skilled workforce for ready to work in construction services, for more effective and efficient with graduates getting certified skilled personnel before entering the workforce in east java province. The mixed-method is used to develop this research, with 221 vocational high schools in east java as respondents. The results are improvements governance of vocational high school needs support as like: synergies/collaboration business and industry community, intensive internship, teaching factory, development/strengthening of soft skills, cooperation with Ministry of Public Work And Housing, cooperation with Institute of Development Construction Services, and cooperation with the Association of Corporate Services Construction.