Report by Arif Maulana
Translation by Aura Hanifatus Saskia
The Rector of Universitas Padjadjaran Prof. Rina Indiastuti giving direction to students participating in the Indonesian Student Exchange program-Credit Transfer System with Information Technology (Permata-SAKTI) of the Ministry of Education and Culture 2020 in the Unpad Permata-SAKTI Kampus Merdeka-Merdeka Belajar Student Admission Event which was held virtually, Friday (18/9) afternoon.*
[unpad.ac.id, 18/09/2020] Universitas Padjadjaran has taken in 392 students from 26 universities in Indonesia through the Indonesian Student Exchange-Credit Transfer System with Information Technology (Permata-SAKTI) program of the Ministry of Education and Culture 2020.
For one semester, students of the 2020 Permata-SAKTI program will attend lectures at Unpad with a credit transfer system. A total of 7 courses from 4 faculties in Unpad will be attended by students using the online lecture method through the Unpad online learning application (LiVE).
The Unpad Director of Education and Internationalization, Mohamad Fahmi Ph.D. mentioned that this year Unpad is one of the universities that accepted high numbers of students from the Permata-SAKTI program. This was influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic situation that encouraged lectures to adopt virtual systems.
“Information technology makes the number of students not limited by the size of the classrooms,” Fahmi said at the Permata-SAKTI Student Admission Event, Unpad Merdeka-Merdeka Learning Campus which was held virtually, Friday (18/9) afternoon.
Fahmi explained, the number of Permata-SAKTI program registrants to Unpad reached 519 students. However, screening and selection have been carried out according to the requirements set by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
The various requirements include the fact that students participating in the program must be in their 5th or 7th semester and come from a different region compared to Unpad.
“Unfortunately, we had to drop registrants who are still in their 3rd semester and registrants from West region (which is Unpad’s region),” he explained.
Furthermore, Fahmi said, Unpad is one of the universities that initiated the Permata program in 2014. Not only as a recipient, but Unpad also sent 21 students to take part in the Permata-SAKTI program in 15 universities throughout Indonesia.
Building Networks
The Permata-SAKTI Student Admission event in Unpad was also attended by the Director of Learning and Student Affairs of the Directorate General of Higher Education Prof. Aris Djunaidi. According to him, one of the purposes of the Permata-SAKTI program is to increase students’ insights.
“This policy is good, it is hoped that you [the students] will be able to gain new competencies and adapt to the culture and academic environment of other universities,” said Prof. Aris.
The Rector of Unpad Prof. Rina Indiastuti pointed out that students’ participation in this program is not simply to experience the learning system in other universities. The important thing to note is students should be able to build networks.
“Hopefully, after joining the Permata-SAKTI program, the relationship between fellow students from other universities and students at Unpad as colleagues will be maintained. If you can get along and be close with your classmates, it will be extraordinary, ” the Rector advised.
The event was also attended virtually by the Vice Rector for Academic Affairs of Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES) Prof. Dr. Zaenuri. UNNES is the university that sends the most students to study at Unpad through the Permata-SAKTI 2020 program.*
You can read the original article in Indonesian here: https://www.unpad.ac.id/2020/09/ikuti-program-permata-sakti-392-mahasiswa-akan-belajar-di-unpad/