Report by Artanti Hendriyana & Unpad Center of Teaching and Learning Innovation
Translation by Aura Hanifatus Saskia
[unpad.ac.id, 6/9/2020] Rector of Universitas Padjadjaran, Prof. Rina Indiastuti, urged new students to increase capability in facing the opportunities and challenges of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. She delivered this in the Joint Preparation Stage (TPB) 2020 Webinar Series for the Creativity and Entrepreneurship Cultivation (OKK) program which was held last Friday (4/9).
The Rector hoped that students will become excellent human resources in the context of Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus policy), have an independent and knowledgeable character, passion as lifelong learners, are creative and productive, and well mannered.
“If we are able to pass all of this then, Insyaallah, students’ efforts and all of us will make Unpad valuable and globalized,” said the Rector.
Facing the digital era, the Rector stated there are three keys to success for students, which are to keep learning to gain new abilities, able to combine the physical-digital-virtual world, and also able to create new employment opportunities with creative and innovative products.
“If we manage to do it right, then we will be able to face the opportunity and challenge of the Fourth Industrial Revolution,” stated the Rector.
The event was officially opened by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs of Unpad, Prof. Arief S. Kartsasmita. In his speech, Prof. Arief stated that learning is not only obtained from theory but also life. Therefore, the OKK program is expected to provide an overview to students, starting from how life is in Unpad to how to live as a community.
Active Citizens
The Unpad Director of Education and Internalization Mohammad Fahmi, Ph.D. said that the OKK program’s purpose is to give an overview of the problems in society. Thus, students will acquire empathy for the problems around them.
In order to prepare students to become graduates capable of being empathetic, collaborating, and possessing leadership skills, Unpad and British Council worked together to develop the OKK course by adopting the “Active Citizens” module.
“The Active Citizens Program has been implemented in 78 countries in the world and more than 13,500 social action projects have been launched. In some, the activists have strengthened society and managed to overcome problems despite challenging conditions. They help each other through maximizing their resources,” said Country Director of British Council Indonesia, Hugh Moffat as a speaker at the inaugural meeting of TPB OKK.
Hugh Moffatt explained that “Active Citizens” is community teamwork to solve social problems around them. “Active Citizens” encourages communities to work with each other against all resources limitations.
Furthermore, Unpad Coordinator of OKK Rully H. Ramadhani, M.H. mentioned that through the OKK program, students are encouraged to learn many skills regarding social activity, understanding communal issues in society, and the effort required to resolve them.
“Active Citizens is a civic leadership program that indeed promotes intercultural dialogue and responsibility as the key to leadership competency in the 21st century,” explained Rully.
The entirety of the TPB 2020 inaugural meeting was preceded by the appearance of Professors of Unpad and other guest speakers. The inaugural Indonesian language class was delivered asynchronously via e-learning Unpad (LiVE Unpad) streaming service by Prof. Dadang Suganda, and the English language class by Prof. Eva Tuckyta Sari and Prof. Aquarini Priyatna.
Afterwards, Religion courses were delivered by Prof. I. Syarief Hidayat (Islam); Pdt. Jimmy Sormin (Protestantism); Prof. Sunardi (Catholicism); Bhante Nyanabhadra Junaidi (Buddhism), and I Ketut Wiguna (Hinduism), followed by the Pancasila and Civic Education (Pendidikan Pancasila dan Kewarganegaraan) class by Prof. Ambrosius Purba. (arm/a)*
You can read the original article in Indonesian here: https://www.unpad.ac.id/2020/09/kuatkan-kompetensi-mahasiswa-unpad-british-council-kembangkan-modul-active-citizens/