
Bandung, UPI 2017
Economic Education Study Program, Faculty of Economics and Business Education, Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia held The 2nd International Conference on Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (ICEEE), Thursday, 3/8/2017) at Hotel Grand Cokro, Bandung. The Chairperson of the ICEEE Committee, Prof. Dr. Eeng Ahman said that this international conference was the result of cooperation between the Association of Indonesian Economic Educators Profession (Aspropendo) and the Economic Education Study Program, FPEB UPI. The conference presented speakers including Steven Cobb from North Texas University, Ikuro Yamamoto from Kinjo Gakuin University College Nagoya, Japan, and Prof. Agus Rahayu from FPEB UPI. As well as parallel sessions held in accordance with the topics that have been determined by the committee. “This conference is a continuation of the first conference held in Surabaya in 2016 which for this year’s implementation was initiated by the Economic Education study program of FPEB UPI. This seminar raises issues related to three fields of science, such as education, economics and entrepreneurship which are related in the context of changes in the face of the global economy,” said Prof. eh. According to him, with this topic, we can achieve the goal that from time to time developments regarding education, economics, and entrepreneurship globally can be well monitored. And can formulate both in the context of learning and the context of policies that lead to the main topics, namely education, economics and entrepreneurship. He hopes that with this conference there will be an improvement in the quality of education at the school level, starting from economic learning that is introduced to students at the junior high, high school and college level. So that the results of this seminar can be directly applied in learning at school or in lectures.

Meanwhile, according to Steven Cobb in an interview, he revealed that there are at least three things that must be considered in revitalizing the economy of a nation. First, economic education in accordance with the demands of the times. The second is an understanding of personal finance (personal financing) for the community. This is important because if people understand the concept of personal finance, they will use their money wisely, and the third is entrepreneurship. We can see that one indication of the progress of a nation can be seen from the number of its people who are entrepreneurial. Cobb cites several examples of countries with a large number of entrepreneurs such as the US, Singapore, followed by China and potentially India. Cobb also considers that in Indonesia the opportunity to advance from an economic perspective is quite large, considering the large number of universities that teach economics, no less many are universities that produce economic education teachers. In his view, government policies are also sufficient to provide good opportunities for entrepreneurs and prospective entrepreneurs. He argues, it would be better if the government opened up opportunities and developed entrepreneurship to all corners of the country evenly. If this happens, it is not impossible, Cobb predicts, Indonesia will lead the world economy.
Another thing that was revealed during the interview, Cobb commented on the habits of students in using gadgets. It is normal for the curriculum to make students have to be technology literate and access various sources of information in broadening students’ horizons. However, this must be accompanied by a focused attitude. Don’t be tempted to use gadgets to communicate via social media so that it distracts students while they are studying. “The point is focus,” he said.
At the end of the conversation, Cobb commented on how he was impressed by the enthusiasm of the conference participants. He also admires the UPI campus which is very distinctive. He also wishes to be able to return to the next opportunity in the activity of developing economic education. (SOLVED/DEN)
Source: https://berita.upi.edu/