What is the Prakerja programme and how does it use digital credentials?

Prakerja (Kartu Prakerja) is Indonesia's government skills development programme that provides training vouchers to unemployed and underemployed workers. Prakerja uses a digital ecosystem platform where participants access approved online courses, complete training, and receive digital certificates that are recorded in the participant's digital Prakerja record. With over 17 million participants, Prakerja is one of one of the world's largest government-funded digital credential programmes.

How can IssueBadge support Indonesian institutions with digital credentialing?

IssueBadge provides Indonesian institutions with Indonesian-language digital credential issuance, BNSP/SKKNI competency standard referencing, mobile-optimised credential delivery, WhatsApp and LINE sharing, Kampus Merdeka credit documentation support, and affordable pricing for Indonesia's diverse education and training market.

Digital Credentials in Indonesia: Kampus Merdeka and Digital Skills

Q: What is Kampus Merdeka and how does it relate to digital credentials?

Kampus Merdeka (Free Campus) is Indonesia's landmark higher education reform launched in 2020 by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek). It allows university students to spend up to 3 semesters outside their home institution in activities including internships, community service, research, and online learning from other institutions. Each activity generates a credential that must be recognised for credit transfer, directly mandating a scalable digital credential infrastructure.

Q: What is BNSP and how does it regulate professional credentials in Indonesia?

BNSP (Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi, National Professional Certification Board) is Indonesia's body for setting and certifying occupational competency standards. BNSP licenses Lembaga Sertifikasi Profesi (LSP, Professional Certification Bodies) to assess and certify workers against SKKNI (Standar Kompetensi Kerja Nasional Indonesia, Indonesian National Work Competency Standards). BNSP certificates are nationally recognised professional credentials.

Published: March 16, 2026 | By IssueBadge Editorial Team | Country Spotlight: Indonesia

Indonesia is Southeast Asia's largest economy and the world's fourth most populous nation, with over 270 million people and one of the region's fastest-growing digital economies. Indonesia has over 200 million internet users, penetration above 77%, and a government that has made digital transformation a national strategic priority through the Making Indonesia 4.0 strategy and the Digital Indonesia Roadmap 2021-2024.

Within this context, digital credentials have moved from a peripheral EdTech innovation to a near-policy-mandated infrastructure requirement. The Kampus Merdeka higher education reform, the Prakerja government skills programme, the BNSP professional certification system, and Indonesia's largest EdTech platforms are collectively building one of Southeast Asia's most dynamic digital credential ecosystems.

Kampus Merdeka: indonesia's bold higher education reform

Kampus Merdeka (literally "Free Campus") was launched in 2020 by then-Minister Nadiem Makarim (the founder of Gojek, Indonesia's ride-hailing unicorn turned politician) as the flagship higher education policy of Kemendikbudristek (Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology). The reform fundamentally changes how Indonesian universities operate and directly mandates digital credential infrastructure at scale.

Key Kampus Merdeka provisions with direct credential implications:

Freedom to Learn Outside Campus: Students can spend up to 3 semesters (1.5 years) in activities outside their home institution, internships, community service, research, student exchanges, teaching assistantships, entrepreneurship programmes, or independent studies. All outside activities generate learning records that must be credit-transferred back to the home institution, requiring standardised, verifiable credential documentation
External Learning Recognition: Online courses from Coursera, Ruangguru, and other platforms can count toward degree credits under Kampus Merdeka provisions, meaning digital completion certificates from these platforms must be institutional-quality and verifiable
Microcredential Pathways: Kampus Merdeka supports the development of microcredential programmes that can stack toward full degrees, creating demand for portable digital credentials that represent sub-degree learning

The Prakerja programme had enrolled over 17 million participants by 2025, making it one of the world's largest single government-funded digital training and credential programme. All Prakerja participants receive digital certificates for completed training through the programme's integrated digital ecosystem.

Prakerja: one of the world's largest government Digital Credential programme

Kartu Prakerja (Pre-employment Card) is Indonesia's government skills development programme, providing digital training vouchers to unemployed, underemployed, and micro-business workers. Launched in 2020 as part of COVID-19 economic recovery, Prakerja has become one of the world's most significant government-scale deployment of digital certificates for workforce training.

The Prakerja digital ecosystem:

Participants access the prakerja.go.id portal and select from thousands of approved training courses across 8 integrated digital training platforms
Approved platforms include Tokopedia, Bukalapak, Gojek, Blibli, Pintar, and specialised EdTech partners
Upon course completion, participants receive digital certificates recorded in their Prakerja digital record
Digital certificates serve as evidence for the programme's incentive disbursements (through GoPay, OVO, LinkAja, and other digital wallets)
The certificates are increasingly formatted to be shareable on LinkedIn and verifiable by employers

Prakerja's scale is staggering: over 17 million participants across all 34 provinces, issuing tens of millions of digital training certificates annually. No government in Asia has created a larger single programme for digital credential issuance to a general workforce population.

BNSP and indonesia's national professional certification system

The Badan Nasional Sertifikasi Profesi (BNSP, National Professional Certification Board) manages Indonesia's national professional certification system. BNSP accredits Lembaga Sertifikasi Profesi (LSP), Professional Certification Bodies, which assess workers against SKKNI (Standar Kompetensi Kerja Nasional Indonesia, Indonesian National Work Competency Standards).

Indonesia has over 500 SKKNI covering hundreds of job functions across sectors including:

Information Technology (SKKNI for software development, IT infrastructure, cybersecurity)
Tourism and Hospitality (SKKNI for hotel management, food service, tour guiding)
Manufacturing and Engineering (SKKNI for welding, machining, automotive)
Financial Services (SKKNI for banking, insurance, fintech)

BNSP certificates, issued by accredited LSPs upon successful competency assessment, are Indonesia's formally recognised vocational credentials. Digitisation of BNSP certificates with online verification is an active priority, with several LSPs already issuing QR-code-verified digital certificates that employers can authenticate via the LSP portal.

Indonesia's edTech Ecosystem: ruangguru, zenius, and beyond

Platform	Focus	Credential Type
Ruangguru	K-12 and exam preparation	Course completion certificates
Zenius	UTBK university entrance prep	Achievement certificates
Dicoding	Developer skills (Bangkit programme)	Project completion and skills badges
MyEduSolve	Microsoft Office, productivity skills	Microsoft aligned digital certificates
Skill Academy (Ruangguru)	Professional skills development	Prakerja-integrated digital certificates
GreatLearning Indonesia	Technology and data skills	Digital credentials, LinkedIn sharing

Dicoding deserves particular mention: as a Google-backed developer education platform, Dicoding has been central to Indonesia's Bangkit Academy, a Google, Tokopedia, Gojek, and Traveloka supported programme that annually trains 5,000 Indonesian engineering students in machine learning, mobile development, and cloud computing. Bangkit credentials are digital badges issued by Dicoding that graduates share on LinkedIn to signal high-quality, industry-backed AI/ML training.

Corporate training in indonesia's Digital economy

Indonesia's corporate sector, anchored by banking giants (BCA, BRI, Mandiri), technology unicorns (Gojek, Tokopedia/TikTok Shop, Traveloka, Bukalapak), and large multinationals, has significant digital credential needs:

OJK (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan, Financial Services Authority): Mandatory training and certification requirements for financial sector employees create large volumes of compliance certificate issuance
Technology sector: AWS, Google, and Microsoft certifications are widely sought by Indonesian tech professionals; startup ecosystem workers frequently display cloud credentials
Manufacturing: Indonesia's industrial sector (automotive, electronics, textiles) requires ISO training certificates, HSE competency records, and technical skills documentation

How IssueBadge supports indonesian Credential issuers

IssueBadge provides Indonesian institutions and organisations with:

Bahasa Indonesia language support: Full Indonesian-language credential issuance, notifications, and verification pages
BNSP/SKKNI metadata: Credentials can reference SKKNI competency standards and BNSP accreditation for employer verification context
Kampus Merdeka documentation: Certificate format and metadata compatible with Kampus Merdeka credit transfer documentation requirements
Mobile-first optimisation: Indonesia has one of Southeast Asia's highest mobile internet usage rates; credential pages are lightweight and mobile-optimised
LINE and WhatsApp sharing: Both messaging platforms are widely used in Indonesia; credential links are shareable through both
Prakerja ecosystem compatibility: Certificate formats compatible with Prakerja's digital documentation requirements
Pricing: See current pricing

Terbitkan sertifikat Digital untuk indonesia

From Kampus Merdeka programmes to Prakerja-approved training providers and BNSP-certified LSPs, IssueBadge makes professional, verifiable digital credential issuance simple and scalable for Indonesia's dynamic credential market.

Mulai Gratis

Conclusion

Indonesia's digital credential ecosystem is perhaps the most government-driven in Southeast Asia. Kampus Merdeka's requirement for documented, transferable learning from diverse activity types; Prakerja's 17-million-participant digital training ecosystem; BNSP's nationally recognised professional certification system; and Indonesia's government-led digital transformation agenda collectively make digital credentials not just useful but structurally required.

For Indonesian universities, EdTech platforms, government training programmes, and corporate L&D teams, IssueBadge provides the Bahasa Indonesia-capable, SKKNI-aligned, mobile-optimised platform to issue digital credentials that work within and beyond Indonesia's national credentialing infrastructure.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kampus Merdeka and how does it relate to digital credentials?

Kampus Merdeka allows Indonesian university students to spend up to 3 semesters outside their home institution. All outside activities must be credited back to the degree, directly requiring scalable digital credential infrastructure for documenting internships, online courses, research, and community service learning.

What is BNSP and how does it regulate professional credentials?

BNSP (National Professional Certification Board) manages Indonesia's professional certification system through accredited LSPs (Professional Certification Bodies). Credentials are issued against SKKNI (national work competency standards) and are Indonesia's formally recognised vocational credentials with increasing digital issuance.

What is the Prakerja programme?

Prakerja is Indonesia's government skills development programme providing digital training vouchers. With 17+ million participants, it is one of the world's largest single government-funded digital credential programme, integrating training access and digital certificate issuance across 8 approved digital platform partners.

How can IssueBadge support Indonesian institutions?

IssueBadge provides Bahasa Indonesia language support, BNSP/SKKNI metadata referencing, Kampus Merdeka credit documentation compatibility, mobile-first credential pages, WhatsApp and LINE sharing, and affordable pricing for Indonesia's diverse education and training ecosystem.