YOGYAKARTA – Dean of Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences UGM, Dr. Chairil Anwar, on Friday (17/9), opened the activities to celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Faculty. The opening ceremony was marked by the release of two balloons containing prize money amounting to Rp300 thousand. The anniversary took the theme Enhancing International Recognition. The selection of this theme was based on the achievement of recognition over the past five years both individually and institutionally.
Chairil said that international recognitions are gained by the Faculty in various fields. Through this Anniversary, the Faculty will reaffirm its commitment to maintain and improve the quality of recognition that has been achieved for internationalization. One of the efforts is to increase the number of faculties with doctoral degree. "In general, nearly 50 percent of faculties are doctors. In the Department of Chemistry, even more than75 percent of faculties are doctors," Chairil told reporters.
He said that the S1 program of the Faculty currently has 7 departments and S2 has 4. All S1 departments obtained “A” accreditation. This year, the Faculty added a new department, the Department of Computer Science and Electronics. "Previously, there were three departments: mathematics, chemistry, and physics, now we have four," he said.
Chairil said, the Faculty will also increase the percentage of foreign students and graduate students. The number of graduate students reaches only 20 percent of the total students in the Faculty. "Of the 4000 students, 1000 are graduate students. We can expect an increase by 25-30 percent in the future," he explained.
To encourage the development and application of research results of faculties, Chairil confirmed that he will expand international cooperation. He mentioned that he is now considering sending Human Resource to countries in the ASEAN region, such as Cambodia and Timor Leste, also countries in the Middle East, such as Jordan and Iraq. "If our counterpart in Malaysia targets the Middle East market, we look at areas in ASEAN, such as Cambodia and Timor Leste. Also in Iraq and Jordanian, we will have cooperation for our human resource development," he said.
Chairman of the Anniversary committee, Prof. Dr. Sri Wahyuni, S.U, explained the agenda of the Anniversary, including family gathering, sports and visits. Furthermore, seminar and international conference of research results will also be conducted. "Research seminar is in order to introduce our research results to the public. It is open to the public. There is also an international conference by Chemistry Department about green chemistry. Meanwhile, Mathematics Department will conduct an International Algebra Conference," she said.