UNAIR NEWS – Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) constantly supporting the implementation of Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) Programs. According to the Rector’s Decree No. 23 Year of 2020, UNAIR has been implementing various policies and programs to support the enhancement of knowledge, soft skills, and networking of the students.
Such initiative to support the implementation of MBKM programs has also been implemented within the community at UNAIR such as providing more opportunities for the students to enrol in cross-study program learning program. The Director of Directorate of Academic Affairs UNAIR, Prof. Dr. Sukardiman, M.S., Apt emphasizes that such initiative has been taken to expand the students in terms of improving their academic competence so that they could be exposed by studying other other disciplines.
“Today, students from the Faculty of Pharmacy or Faculty of Medicine can enrol the courses at the Faculty of Law to learn more about medical legal. Likewise, students from other study programs are also allowed to choose the courses offered in other study programs with an exception the courses support their discipline,” extended Prof. Sukardirman in the interview.
Moreover, the implementation of cross-study program learning is initiated through curriculum redesign at every faculty and department. Faculties that are able to adapt and initiate curriculum redesign will be entitled to obtaining a reward from the university to accelerate the academic activities both for lecturers and students.
In addition, UNAIR is currently preparing new programs named Pembelajaran Dasar Bersama where this program will serve as a compulsory course for the students. This course, furthermore will be organized at Kampus C UNAIR by inviting students from various departments to study in one class.
“This program will also be offered to the freshmen. The aim of this program is initially to improve UNAIR’s character, national identity, and serve as a space for exchange of knowledge across study programs,” added Prof. Sukardiman in his explanation.
Currently, UNAIR is also hosting Program Pertukaran Mahasiswa Merdeka (Merdeka Student Exchange Program). This program has attracted the interests of Indonesian students from various Indonesian universities. The great amount of interests shown by large amount of the students to enrol in this program has caused IT troubleshoots in the online program managed by the Directorate of Academic Affairs.
In the implementation of Merdeka Belajar program, UNAIR has also carefully nominated more than 100 students to participate in Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program managed by the Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. IISMA program will delegate Indonesian students to undertake one semester exchange program at foreign universities.
In addition to implementing the aforementioned program, UNAIR also implements MBKM program with other forms of activities such as internship, initiating a partnership with corporates, courses and laboratory assistance programs, entrepreneurships, community services, humanitarian projects and independent study projects.
“All of the implemented MBKM activities are producing outstanding achievements. Currently, we are working on summarizing the achievements and after that, we will mail it to Directorate-General of Higher Education for ranking purpose,” elaborated Prof. Sukardiman to UNAIR NEWS.
In the interview session, Prof. Sukardiman has also shared several challenges to implement MBKM programs starting from different academics calendar and policies in each university to COVID-19 pandemic that once restricted the importance of MBKM program.
Therefore, he greatly hopes that pandemic will soon come to its end. “the interesting parts about Merdeka Belajar are social and cultural interaction, and field practice. Therefore, when the covid-19 pandemic will reach to its end, UNAIR is optimistic that MBKM program will be successfully organized with great number of students to participate in it,” closed him in the interview session.
Source: news.unair.ac.id
