The Department of International Relations conducted a learning curriculum workshop, called ‘Merdeka Belajar’ or independent learning, through the Microsoft Team apps on Wednesday, May 13th 2020. The event was carried out as the implementation of the independent learning curriculum for students of the International Relations Department. This workshop was held to connect the communication among the stakeholders in preparation for the curriculum itself. This was also important to link and match the education and the industry world. Besides, students in university had the right to learn for at least 3 semesters or 40 credits. During those 3 semesters, students could create some independent learning programs. Such as, internships, community service, research, entrepreneurship, teaching activities in remote areas, independent studies, humanitarian projects, and student exchanges programme. In short, lecturers should provide the learning experience for their students.
The first spokesperson was Baiq Lekar Sinayang as the representative of the Indonesian International Relations Association (AIHII). AIHII also participated in facilitating the students to get the right of their freedom of study by giving them recommendations to take seven subjects. Such as the International Relations theory and methodology, international political economy, international law, international system, international politics, foreign policy, and international organizations and institutions. Baiq explained that there were three ways in implementing the cross-study programs, cross-campus programs, and the internships. Meanwhile, students often had their desire to take courses from outside their study program. In the cross-campus way, communication was needed to open a new MoU between the PTN BH and PTN BLU. AIHII also provided technical issues adjusting the profile of the graduates, MoU for the International Relations Department with the stakeholders and users, and balancing the practical skills and university’s mission.
The second spokesperson was Muhammad Masrofi, S.Sos, M.Si, as the head of the government bureau, regional autonomy, and who was in cooperation with the Central Java Provincial Secretariat. The independent campus policies announced this year by the ministry of education would certainly provide a different stimulus for students who apply their internships in the government agencies. According to Masrofi, the independent campus policy was a framework which prepares the students to become strong graduates, who were relevant to the needs of the era, and ready to succeed at their jobs. It was not only in the internship program, but also other programs which could be aligned with the local government’s programs. Thus, it was expected that there would be more opportunities to build the capacity and the students’ potential during the implementation of the independent learning curriculum.
Khasan Ashari, who served as Director of the Foreign School and Training Center of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was the third spokesperson in the workshop. He explained that the Ministry of Foreign Affars also took parts in the independent curriculum. It gave the accomodation for at least 2 programs from 8 other programs provided by the independent campus. Such as, practical internships and research. Related to the independent campus programme, it was important to enhance the coordination among the stakeholders. Including, the relationship between the government agencies from the Ministry of Education and Culture and the other relevant ministries. So that, each institution could gain the detail information about the implementation of the independent campus programme. Regarding to a research by Khasan Ashari, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had a special agency called the Research and Policy Development Department which could be used as a medium for the students in doing their research in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After all, this step could also be considered as one of the implementation for the independent campus programme.
The implementation of the independent campus programme brought a great expectation for the stakesholder in developing the students’ interests and talents. So that, there would be a link and match between the education and the industrial world. This relationship was definitly directed to find out how the university could produce those graduates who could match with the industrial needs. In a survey conducted by the Undip Career Center (UCC), they asked a number of questions to 189 companies. The results showed that around 71% of the companies agreed that the university graduates had not fully match with the needs of the companies. In addition, the results also showed that the university graduates were unable to fulfill some expected skills. Such as attitude (character, personality and mentality), competence (technical skills), soft skills (communication, leadership, problem solving, and decision making) and the awareness or the ability to understand the conditions around them.
This workshop was a collaboration among the stakeholders in implementing the independent curriculum programme. Those stakesholders were the IRUD, AIHII, the Local Government, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alumni, and the students. This event was also conducted to maximize the outcomes of the program activities in the independent curriculum.
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