As one of the state educational institutions, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) continues to expand its network both by cooperation and discussion between institutions. This time, UGM held a sharing session with Maulana Malik Ibrahim State Islamic University (UIN) Malang, Thursday (12/9). UIN Malang’s visit to UGM was a comparative study activity related to questions and answers about alumni management and management of international students at UGM. The event was held in the DGB Meeting Room, 2nd floor of UGM Central Building.
On this occasion, there were 13 participants in attendance, including the Head of Student Affairs and Alumni, the Head of the Sub Directorate of Alumni, 11 alumni, and student staff. Representatives from UGM presented the Director of Partnership, Alumni, and International Affairs (DKAUI) UGM, Dr. Danang Sri Hadmoko, S.Sc., M.Sc. along with the Head of the Sub-Directorate for International Cooperation, I Made Andi Arsana, Ph.D. and Head of Sub Directorate for Alumni Relations, Dr. Sulistyowati, S.S., M.Hum. which first gave a general description of the various programs and activities carried out by DKAUI, one of which was introducing the application of Sahabat UGM.
After the event was opened by remarks from the host, representatives of UIN Malang also delivered two words about their purpose of the comparative study to UGM, one of which was about international students who wanted to gain knowledge and get a degree in Indonesian university and about the continuity of synergy between alumni and their universities.
Danang conveyed the difference between the management division of international affairs management and alumni who have their own systems and programs. The Sahabat UGM application is one of the programs planned so that alumni can always be connected to their campus and contribute to the development of university quality. In addition, Danang also said that DKAUI has always synergized with KAGAMA which already has many branches of the community to always unite alumni through alumni gathering.”The contribution of alumni will be even greater when they are valued by the campus,” said Danang.
In addition to the Sahabat UGM application, information on the UGM tracer study was also presented directly by Sulistyowati to explain the mechanism in collecting alumni data in order to improve the quality of UGM human resources.
Matters related to international students also often raise problems both internally at the university and with the bureaucracy of the student’s home country. A lot of differences in policy and law of each country also affect when students want to study abroad. In connection with this, Andi as the head of the sub-division in charge of international affairs said that in addition to complete administrative documents for registration, another document is needed from the government of the origin country which willing to accept students returning to study in Indonesia. The document will guarantee students including the equalization of the degree that has been obtained.
The sharing session between UIN Malang and UGM is expected to be a bridge to exchange ideas about reforming the campus, especially regarding the management of international affairs and alumni for the two universities.
[Alumni Relationship / Article: Winona; Photo: Asnan; Translate: Nadya]