(Unila): Some 970 Indonesian students were chosen to join the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA). They will have to be studying at reputable overseas campuses in Asia, Europe, and America for three months, as one of the flagship activities in the Independent Campus, Freedom to Learn (MBKM).
Program launched by Ministry of Education and Technology, as Setiawan, the head of MBKM, said in Webinar of the MBKM Program Socialization titled “Building the Spirit of Leadership through Independent campus”, Tuesday, October 12, 2021, via the Zoom Meeting application.
Independent campus programs include nine flagship activities, one of which is the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards. The program is currently ongoing and some 970 students were sent to approximately 39 colleges in 30 countries across Europe, Asia, and America.
He explained that IISMA differs from other foreign student exchange programs in that ISMI allows the students to take subjects other than their major which can be converted to the credit for approximately 2 semesters.
The webinar was attended by keynote speakers, Dr. Muhammad Kadafi, member of home representative DPR RI, Andi Rahardian, IISMA program coordinator, Dr. Paristiyanti Nurwardani, secretary of the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Prof. Suharso, vice rector for Planning, Cooperation and ICT Unila, and IISMA student representatives from the University of Lampung and University of Leicester, Ahmad Abdullah.
Kadafi in his presentation said that 23 million workers will be replaced by machines by 2030 due to the effect of Industrial Revolution 4.0 era. However, he continued that 27-46 million new job opportunities arise, 10 millions of which appear new jobs we never previously had. Young generations of Indonesia need to take advantage of this opportunity.
According to him, the program of the Independent Campus, Freedom to Learn (MBKM) launched by the Minister of Education is a breakthrough to encourage students’ creativity and to be adaptive to rapid development of workplace.
The output of MBKM is expected to lead students to have hard skills, soft skills, life skills, networks, experience, and portfolio, with excellent outcomes in some professional fields, entrepreneurs, scientists, bureaucrats, politicians.
Meanwhile, Prof. Suharso, vice rector for Planning, Cooperation and ICT Unila, suggested that broad insight and strong knowledge is required for a leader. We could learn from our national leaders, all of whom have good education.
They studied abroad and came back to Indonesia to build our nation. This was in accordance with the principles of MBKM launched by the Minister of Education and Technology, leading students to be resilient graduates, to update the technology advancement, and to become leaders with high national spirits.
Once students are sent to pursue their study abroad, they will have to keep their motivation in mind, building the nation for better future lives. We should take advantages of studying abroad in terms of spirits, work ethic, and curiosity for excellent Indonesian generations. [PR Team]
