Depok-The International Council for Small Business (ICSB) Presidential Award 2021 awarded Pillar Researchers to the Public Relations Study Program (PR), Universitas Indonesia (UI) Vocational Education Program. This award was received thanks to the annual Vokasi Humas Festival (Vokhumfest) program, which is an empowerment program for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), in the form of branding and promotion. Vokhumfest has been held for 10 years and is an integrated program with courses and community service. The appreciation given by ICSB is a series of ceremonial events entitled “Galang UKM Indonesia 2021” which will be held online from October 6-7, 2021.

ICSB Indonesia is a non-profit organization whose mission is to develop the entrepreneurial spirit of small and medium entrepreneurs in Indonesia. The presence of ICSB acts as an integrator for the four pillars (government, business people, researchers, and coaches) to be able to make a more optimal contribution to SME entrepreneurs.

Prof. Sigit Pranowo Hadiwardoyo, DEA, Director of the UI Vocational Education Program, said that this was an effort to make UI Vocational real contribution to the progress of MSMEs through a learning and practicum system that refers to solving real cases in the community. “This learning method is part of the curriculum implementation run by the UI Vocational Education Program. This curriculum requires students to study on campus for the first three semesters to strengthen basic skills and theory, then two semesters of study in industry, and for one semester of internship. UI Vocational students are also equipped with entrepreneurship courses,” said Sigit.

Head of the UI Vocational Education Program Public Relations Study Program, Pijar Suciati, S.Sos., M.Si., explained that VokhumFest is an annual program held to assist MSMEs in branding and promoting their products/services and is part of the practice in the eyes of courses, especially the Public Relations Visual Production Practice Course. Since 2016, this program has also been integrated with Community Service.

“This program was initiated in 2011 under the name of Vocational Communication Festival and changed to Vokasi Humas Festival (Vokhumfest) since 2019. We see that many MSMEs still need assistance in branding their products and services, that was the beginning of this program,” said Pijar explaining. Furthermore, Pijar said that every year for 1 (one) semester students in the class become consultants for MSMEs by not collecting fees from MSMEs in producing various public relations visual materials.

Materials produced include posters, brochures, flyers, and various visual forms for social media. The visual materials are made in digital and print formats. “This is a form of practical implementation at UI Vocational, so students from an early age have learned to interact with clients and help provide consultations for public relations. Usually every year there are 18-25 MSMEs that participate,” she said.

Before the pandemic, the work of UI Vocational Public Relations study program students was displayed in activities held in the form of exhibitions. The Covid-19 pandemic situation causes Vokhumfest in 2021 to transform into a virtual exhibition (virtual exhibition). The results of the work that have been made by students of the Public Relations study program can be seen on the https://vokhumfest.ppvui.id site. “It is hoped that many people will visit the VokHumFest website and also visit the online shop of MSMEs who are clients. MSMEs can also register on the website if they want to become partners for the next Vokhumfest,” said Pijar.

Pijar explained about the results of a survey conducted to MSMEs who are VokHumFest 2021 clients, namely 68.4% very satisfied and 31.6% satisfied with the results provided by the VokHumFest 2021 student team. In addition, 94.7% MSMEs recommend using the services of VokHumFest to other MSME partners. From the survey results, it can be seen that the VokHumFest activities were well received and provided benefits for the participants.

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Humas Program Pendidikan Vokasi UI
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