2022
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UX Writer
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Mixed-Method Research, B2B Partner Experience, Strategic Recommendations
Making the Proposal Process Easier for
Kampus Merdeka Partners
TLDR:
Magang dan Studi Independen Bersertifikat (MSIB) is a flagship program under Kampus Merdeka, connecting Indonesian university students with top companies for real-world internships and research projects. The program is designed to help students develop practical skills and prepare for the workforce.
Despite strong interest, many company partners struggled with the proposal submission process. This created missed opportunities and lowered participation. Through targeted research and a focused redesign of the submission journey, we identified key friction points and made it easier for partners to engage with the program. As a result, the number of active company partners grew from 122 to 263, more than doubling the opportunities available for students across Indonesia.
My Role & Involvement
I contributed to this initiative by supporting the design and facilitation of workshops, conducting unstructured interviews with company partners, and assisting in synthesizing the findings into actionable recommendations. Later, I joined the product improvement phase as a UX Writer, working closely with the design team to simplify the proposal submission journey and craft in-context guidelines that addressed the most common partner concerns.
Research Approach
To deeply understand the blockers faced by company partners, we employed a combination of exploratory and participatory methods, chosen strategically to match the environment and research goals.
Unstructured Interviews at MSIB Fair
Conducted directly at company booths to capture spontaneous feedback while observing how partners promoted their programs to students. This also served as a warm-up for deeper discussions during the workshop.
Workshop with Company Partners
Focused on experienced partners who had joined multiple cycles despite existing pain points. Their comparative insights helped us understand what kept them engaged and where the process continued to fail
Observation at Collaborative Insights Workshop
Provided rare access to live interactions between company partners and universities, helping us identify collaboration frictions and SKS conversion challenges that typically remain hidden.
Student-Side Impromptu Research
Though unplanned, we took the opportunity to gather complementary perspectives from students attending the fair through casual conversations and expression boards.
Challenges & Breakthrough Moments
Challenges
Balancing Research and Event Dynamics
The MSIB Fair was not a research-focused event, which meant our data collection had to be highly adaptive. Company partners were primarily there to promote their programs to students, limiting their availability for focused conversations.
Navigating Hierarchical and Bureaucratic Barriers
Some company partners were hesitant to share candid feedback due to formal relationships with the Ministry and concerns about potential repercussions. Building trust quickly was critical and challenging within a short interaction window.
Unstructured Collaboration Between Stakeholders
There were no established collaboration mechanisms between universities and company partners. This resulted in fragmented insights and misaligned expectations, particularly around SKS conversion and program recognition.
Administrative Overload Limited Research Depth
Company partners were overwhelmed with manual administrative tasks such as tracking student documents, verifying requirements, and handling repetitive communications. These burdens made it difficult for them to fully engage in research activities. Many conversations were cut short or lacked the depth we initially aimed for, as partners prioritized immediate operational concerns over reflection and feedback.
Breakthrough Moments
Turning Spontaneous Encounters into Rich Insights
Casual chats during booth visits and impromptu discussions with students revealed unexpected insights about social influence dynamics and how participation in the program served as a form of social currency among peers
Learning from Partners Who Persisted Despite Challenges
Conversations with returning company partners who continued participating despite ongoing frustrations offered invaluable insights. Their resilience showed what truly motivated continued involvement and how they worked around system limitations.
Observing Real-Time Negotiations Between Partners and Universities
The Collaborative Insights Workshop allowed us to witness firsthand the often-hidden tensions between universities and company partners. Observing these interactions helped us uncover systemic issues that would have been difficult to capture through direct questioning alone.
Key Insights
Information Gaps and Missed Opportunities
“We visit campuses to promote our MSIB programs… but I had no idea there was an event in Jogja. How do we even find out about these things?”
Many company partners discovered critical program information and deadlines too late, resulting in rushed or incomplete proposals.
So what? If partners remain uninformed, program fulfillment targets will continue to fall short. Without proactive communication, potential partnerships slip through the cracks before they even have a chance to materialize.
Administrative Overload and Platform Limitations
“We have to contact students one by one to inform them about additional essay requirements because the platform does not support that.”
The lack of automation forced partners to handle repetitive manual tasks, leading to frustration and operational inefficiency.
So what? If the administrative workload remains high, partners will either scale down their involvement or exit the program entirely, reducing the variety and quality of opportunities available to students.
Unclear Proposal Standards and High Cognitive Load
“We are required to create a program syllabus, but there is no standard. We are not sure if it will be considered too easy or too difficult.”
Without clear guidelines or benchmarks, partners struggled to navigate proposal creation confidently.
So what? If partners struggle to understand what is expected, the proposal pipeline will be clogged with substandard or misaligned submissions. This wastes resources and slows down the selection process.
Misaligned Expectations Between Company Partners and Universities
“We coordinated with the university at the start, but in the end they refused to approve the proposed credits for our program.”
Credit conversion became a critical bottleneck, undermining both partner and student incentives to fully commit to the program.
So what? Without resolving this, student enrollment rates will stagnate and company partners will lose trust in the program’s ability to deliver promised outcomes. This directly threatens program credibility.
Untapped Potential for the Program Offering
“I joined MSIB because my seniors said it is great for your portfolio. The credits conversion are just a bonus if you get them.”
Students valued the program more for its contribution to their portfolios than for academic credit, and social influence played a major role in their decisions.
So what? Ignoring this shift in motivation means missing a powerful lever for promoting the program. Tapping into this mindset is critical to sustaining student interest and driving organic program advocacy.
Recommendations and Opportunity Area
Introduce a Tiered Proposal System
Design multiple participation tracks that accommodate partners with varying operational capacities. This ensures that smaller organizations are not constrained by resource-heavy requirements like the 50-student minimum quota.
This recommendation responds to the administrative overload experienced by partners who struggle to meet existing participation demands. By offering more flexible options, we reduce operational friction and prevent partners from scaling down or exiting the program entirely, which would directly limit the variety and quality of opportunities available to students.
Standardize and Simplify Proposal Guidelines
Provide clear, accessible templates and concrete examples of successful program proposals. This helps reduce the high cognitive load partners experience during proposal creation and prevents confusion about the expected program standards.
Partners repeatedly expressed uncertainty over what qualifies as a strong proposal. Without clear benchmarks, the program risks clogging the pipeline with substandard or misaligned submissions, which wastes resources and slows down the selection process.
Upgrade Platform Functionalities to Reduce Administrative Workload
Enhance the platform by automating repetitive tasks. Key improvements should include automatic notifications for students when proposal requirements change, real-time applicant status tracking, and streamlined document submission and verification.
This directly addresses the partners’ frustration with handling manual communication and tracking. If the administrative workload remains high, there is a real risk that partners will disengage from the program, ultimately limiting opportunities for students.
Strengthen and Standardize Account Executive Engagement
Redefine the role of Account Executives to provide continuous, proactive support instead of limiting their involvement to initial onboarding. Establish performance metrics that encourage AEs to stay engaged throughout the partner journey.
This recommendation addresses the information gaps that caused partners to miss critical deadlines and events. Without ongoing support, partnerships are more likely to fall apart before they have a chance to fully materialize.
Offer Alternative Program Tracks Without Credit Conversion
Create participation options that do not require converting program activities into academic credits. This approach caters to students who are more focused on building their portfolios and gaining practical experience rather than fulfilling credit requirements. It also eases the burden on company partners by reducing the need for complex coordination with universities.
Since credit conversion has become a recurring barrier for both students and partners, offering more flexible options helps maintain strong student enrollment and ensures that company partners continue to see the program as a valuable and accessible channel for talent development.
Impact
While the research resulted in several strategic recommendations, not all were approved or prioritized by stakeholders due to policy constraints and differing agendas. Despite these limitations, we successfully implemented key improvements focused on simplifying the proposal process, reducing administrative burdens, and enhancing support for company partners.
These improvements were delivered through a platform revamp that introduced several critical enhancements:
Simplified Proposal Submission Flow
We made the submission journey more intuitive and less overwhelming for partners.
Introduced a visual stepper to show the number of steps in the process.
Provided an upfront checklist of required materials to help partners prepare.
Added downloadable templates to ensure standardized document submissions.
Chunked Submission Process
We broke the process into smaller, manageable chunks to reduce the anxiety of incomplete submissions.
Enabled partners to save their progress as a draft at any point.
Allowed them to return later and continue without losing previously entered information.
In-Context Field Guidance
We reduced confusion and repetitive inquiries by providing clear, contextual guidance.
Added hoverable info icons on each field to explain what details were required.
Helped partners navigate the submission process with greater confidence.
Introduction of the Help Button
We provided immediate support access to reduce the reliance on Account Executives.
Added a Help button directly within the submission interface.
Enabled real-time support through customer service agents for faster resolution of partner concerns.
As a result of these focused improvements:
Active Company Partners More Than Doubled: From 122 to 263, representing a growth of over 115%.
Proposal Submissions Increased Significantly: Estimated submissions grew from around 296 per batch before the intervention to over 628 per batch after the intervention, leading to a wider variety of learning opportunities for students.
Partner Satisfaction Reached 88%: The improved submission experience and better support structure contributed to high partner satisfaction, validating the effectiveness of the changes we implemented.
Personal Learning Points
Adaptability Beyond Content Design
This project stretched me beyond traditional content design roles - from conducting field research to craft the UX copy itself. I learned to switch between different responsibilities as needed: researcher, designer, facilitator, and content strategist. This experience reinforced my ability to adapt and contribute wherever needed while maintaining focus on creating clear, user-centered solutions.
Research Beyond the Data Collection
This project opened my eyes to the behind-the-scenes realities of conducting research in the public sector. It was my first field study at GovTech, and unlike in previous companies where logistics were handled by a dedicated research ops team, here I played an active role in planning, from booking venues to coordinating transportation and accommodations. Leveraging my personal network in Yogyakarta, I supported the team beyond my core responsibilities. This experience taught me that meaningful research isn’t just about interviews and synthesis but also also about adaptability and knowing how to make things happen with limited resources.
On-the-Spot Synthesis Under Pressure
One of the most formative moments in this project was learning how to synthesize in real time. During the workshop, we had limited time between sessions, so we used breaks to cluster insights, reframe problems, and prepare the next activities while the room was still buzzing. It wasn’t just about speed, but clarity. I was fortunate to learn directly from our Head of Design, who guided us through fast yet thoughtful synthesis. This experience sharpened my ability to extract signal from noise under pressure and taught me that good synthesis does not always require a quiet post-fieldwork week. Sometimes it just needs a sharp question and tight collaboration.
Project Details
Role
UX Writer & Researcher
Company
GovTech Edu Indonesia
Year
2022
Release Environment
Nation-wide in Indonesia
Collaborators
Sania Saraswati - Researcher
Alleya Hanifa - Researcher
Gupita Prameswari - UX Designer
Elvaretta Gunawan - UX Designer
Kautsar Anggakara - Head of Design