The Roles of University Student Cooperatives in Developing Indonesia Cooperatives

Abstract

The Indonesia Cooperative Law states that the aims of cooperative are to improve member promotion and to develop national economy order in creating and achieving the developed and prosperous society. One of the cooperatives with prominent roles is the university student cooperative. Its members, board of directors and internal supervisors are derived from the students; while the external supervisor is the head of university. This composition could indicate that the kind of cooperative is managed and organized by human resources with good competency. The research aims to find out a model of developing cooperatives focusing on young generation. It uses the survey method for 24 university student cooperatives in Yogyakarta Special Region, West Sumatra, South Sulawesi and West Kalimantan. The collected data were analyzed by using the descriptive method. The results of the research show the human resource of cooperative determines the cooperative performance. The students experience how to organize and manage cooperative well which become behavioral reference for future cooperative behavior. The students having positive experiences tend to replicate cooperative activities in their society. The existence of the cooperatives should make the cooperative movement more alive as the university students have fighting spirit, intellectual quotient and other potencies to be optimized. The cooperative isrun during their education time at university where students are prepared to develop their future. Based on the ideal roles, the university student cooperatives could function as a movement and motivator for the university students to have entrepreneurial spirit and to run their own business.