Since its establishment in 2008, Master of Coastal and Watershed Planning and Management Faculty of Geography has as many as 124 students who receive scholarships of excellence. This scholarship program is the realization of internationalization, the Bureau of International Planning and Cooperation (BPKLN), Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture.
Some of the scholarship recipients use the funds to follow the double degree program at Chiba University of Japan, Cologne University of Applied Science (CUAS) Germany, and the ITC-Twente in the Netherlands. "Absolutely, we support this program, because the purpose of development of double degree program is to enhance the experience and capacity of students to conduct research in Indonesia and international cooperation,” Dr. rer. nat. Muh. Aris Marfai, M.Sc said, at UC UGM, Thursday (5/4) at the Workshop on M.Sc Double Degree Development Faculty of Geography UGM.
Aris Murfai said that students who follow the double degree program are excellent students who have made achievements, including winners in “innovative solution for the delta" competition which made them entitled to be invited to Rotterdam, The Netherlands and UN-Habitat Urban Fund Young 2011, participation in several international conferences, such as LEAN-CC (Linking European, Asian, and African in Climate Change Education), World Delta Summit -2011 and other international activities.
The program opens enrollment twice a year and provides scholarships from the BPKLN, internal scholarships and research scholarships. In addition, a fast track program is now being developed, a program that allows excellent undergraduate students to join S-2 program in Faculty of Geography. "This program is intended to create young and qualified S-2 graduates," Muh. Arfai Aris, Head of the S2 Program said.
Dr. Danang Sri Hadmoko, M.Sc., Vice Chairman of the Bureau of International Cooperation, Faculty of Geography, said the workshop was held to disseminate the double degree program already available at Faculty of Geography. This activity is expected to be the big umbrella which facilitates the activities of joint research among UGM and foreign universities such as Chiba University, Japan, Cologne University of Applied Science (CUAS), Germany and the ITC, University of Twente, The Netherlands.
Danang is optimistic, because the results of cooperation are quite encouraging. The progress of cooperation shows a rising trend. "We have partnership with 27 countries. This collaboration creates different types of new collaborations, including cooperation in the double degree. Not long ago we discussed with Utrecht about the cooperation possibility of S3 double degree program related to Regional Development Planning," he explained.