A New Approach of Students' Industrial Field Experience Program in the Digital Age

This study aimed to investigate the need for developing an Industrial Field Experience (IFE) program model based on the Industrial Revolution 4.0 in the the Faculty of Engineering of UNP (Universitas Negeri Padang). The study was conducted among lecturers who had guided students as well as students who had returned from IFE. Data were collected from questionnaire distributed and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistic version 25 and Excel graph program. The results showed the shortfalls of the IFE Program and improvements that could be implemented such as: establishing a collaboration or partnership between colleges and industries so that students have an easier time to find a IFE destination; improving akama web that is currently used for IFE administration purpose by adding necessary quality-of-life features and conducting an initial meeting between supervisors and industries in order to achieve the expected IFE competencies according to the curriculum. The performance of IFE for 6 months will be better when industry inputs are taken into account. Devising a Learning Plan that describes the position and activity needed students and Monitoring and Evaluation of supervisors are important to assess student performance and build a good relationship with industries. Student evaluations and assessments are not only carried out based on academic competence but also based on soft skill competencies which are in line with the skills that students must have in the Industry 4.0-based 21st century. The new Industrial Field Experience approach will answer the problem of mismatch between the world of education and the industrial world regarding expected competencies.