This period of graduation as many as 1,548 students will receive degrees from Universitas Gadjah Mada with average study period 4 years and 8 months. The shortest period of study was achieved by Rizki Adi Pratama from Sosiology, Social and Political Sciences Faculty with a period of 3 years and 1 month. Meanwhile, the youngest graduate was Aditya Dharma Putra, of Industrial Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, who graduated at the age of 19 years 2 months and 15 days.
Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D., congratulated the graduates for the degree that they achieved. “On behalf of UGM, I congratulate all the graduates and the family of graduates as well for being supportive so that their children could successfully complete their study,” she said during her commencement speech at Grha Sabha Pramana on Wednesday (11/18).
It was said by Rector of UGM that the graduates are the young and the bright who are expected to become leaders of tomorrow. But this is not an easy task. According to the Rector, university graduates are not just tools to encounter ASEAN Economic Community but how we could prepare ourselves for global economy in the year of 2030.
“The face of Indonesia would depend on your perseverance on dealing with nation’s challenge. One of key success for our nation is mastery of science and technology and the quality of human resources,” she added.
Today’s problem, however, is the low percentage of workers who are university graduates which is only 7 percent whereas in the United States the figure reaches 62 percent. In addition, Rector said that the perseverance and competitiveness of graduates is determined by their foresight and accuracy in interpreting opportunities to overcome various problems and challenges they faced. “To gain your perseverance, keep developing your intellectual and spiritual abilities.”
To the graduates, Rector reminded them to go back to their community to serve with knowledge and experiences gained on campus and always raise the moral value and nationalism which were instilled at this university, she concluded.