(Unila): Head of the Development of International Cooperation and Services (PKLI), the University of Lampung (Unila), Dr. Ayi Ahadiat confirmed the collaboration between Unila and one of the top 100 world universities in Japan with a lecturer from the Faculty of Agriculture, the University of Lampung.
The collaboration will be discussed in the meeting with the vice rector for Planning, Cooperation, and ICT at Unila. He also informed that Unila has been set to have collaboration with one of the other top 100 world universities in the ASEAN region, National University of Singapore (NUS), which currently achieves the top 11 university world ranking.
The collaboration between Unila and NUS has been undertaken since 2015, under Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy through the Asian Competitiveness Institute (ACI), a research center on the relative competitiveness of the economy in the ASEAN region and sub-national economic analysis from China, India, and Indonesia.
ACI research funded by World Bank was intended to foster economic growth, living standards, and competitiveness of Asian countries. The agreement of the collaboration was represented by Prof. Satria Bangsawan and Business ((FEB)), and Dr. Tan Ghee Kiap from ACI as a NUS representative.
Unila through this collaboration conducted a survey to capture the competitiveness of Lampung Province against all provinces in Indonesia every year. The survey was conducted in collaboration with the Lampung local government and other stakeholders.
The results of the survey show the picture of regional competitiveness ranks, which are presented at the ACI annual conference in the form of an annual report.
The duration of collaboration between Unila and NUS, according to Dr. Ayi, has no time limit. Although the research period generally lasts approximately one year, the duration of the collaboration is more manifested in the form of a letter of intent with the aim of how this collaboration builds competitiveness knowledge in Asia.
The collaboration will have to continue to advance even though it has been currently done online due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Every year participants from all provinces in Indonesia, state officials, ministers and heads of Bappenas as well as representatives from China and India, are invited to attend the ACI conference.
Unila, the local government (Pemda), and the Indonesian employer association (Apindo) in Lampung region are representatives of Lampung.
Collaboration to Result Real Results
Dr. Ayi pointed out that the research collaboration with NUS has given very beneficial results, providing the regions across Indonesia with recommendations or input for the formulation of development policies.
Lampung province policy makers and Unila can take advantage from the collaboration development policies and the development planning.
The collaboration has not been undertaken by other institutions in Indonesia but Unila has done this. The recommendation provided by Unila significantly improves regional competitiveness of Lampung and other regions in a number of sectors.
Unila and NUS Collaboration Opportunities
The progress of collaboration between Unila and NUS, top 11 world university ranking, may be extended to a number of aspects, e.g., the down streaming of collaboration, the results of research in terms of business and non-business entities, journals and accreditation of international reputations. The collaboration has motivated Unila to improve better world university ranking position.
Unila needs to establish a strategy or a scenario for the collaboration with NUS, inviting teaching staff from NUS to Unila, deploying Unila teaching staff to continue their doctoral studies at NUS, and conducting collaborative research with NUS. The close collaboration between Unila and NUS is expected to lead to collaboration with other universities. [PR Team]
