A total of 285 proposals of Student Creativity Program from Universitas Gadjah Mada managed to get a grant from the Directorate General of Higher Education. The proposals will be selected and submitted in the National Science Week event (PIMNAS) 2016 which will take place at IPB in the coming months.
The achievement made UGM the college with the highest number of proposals getting funded by the Directorate General of Higher Education in 2016. ITS followed second place with 271, Brawijaya University 264, Diponegoro University 229, and IPB 205 proposals.
Head of Student Creativity Sub-directorate of Student Affairs UGM, Ahmad Agus Setiawan, ST, M.Sc., Ph.D., said that this year UGM filed as many as 1,209 proposals of which 285 being qualified for grants.
"The 285 proposals that received research grants are from five fields, namely 50 proposals for Entrepreneurship, 154 Research, 12 Technology, 45 Karsa Cipta (Innovative Creation), 24 Community Service," he said, Tuesday (23/2).
This year there are at least 4,700 proposals from various universities in Indonesia getting a research grant from Directorate General of Higher Education. All will compete in the national level competition during the 29th National Student Science Week (PIMNAS) at Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB).
"There are about 56 thousand proposals being submitted from across Indonesia and UGM students have successfully gone through a tough competition to get the grant. The run-up to the next competition at IPB will be tighter so that we should keep on fire," he said.
Agus explained that this year Director General of Higher Education grants a proposal an average of IDR7.5 million for each proposal. Thus, UGM receives research funding for around IDR2 billion for the 285 proposals.
This achievement is contributed by the existence of PKM Center UGM formed in 2015. PKM Center will be a place to prepare students for PIMNAS. Through this Center, students can submit their proposals and consult with alumni and former PIMNAS participants.
"All proposal submission is supervised by PKM Center, accompanied by alumni of PKM/PIMNAS and supervised by the faculty adviser," he explained.
Agus said that all proposals that receive funding from the Higher Education will be monitored and evaluated. Furthermore, proposals that pass Higher Education reviewers will advance to the PIMNAS at IPB.
"We hope that many of the proposals are qualified and could become a champion in the PIMNAS 2016," he said.
UGM Director of Student Affairs, Drs. Senawi, MP, said that UGM continues to improve the quality of PKM teams from year to year. Some of these efforts include providing direction and guidance intensely to the students. Those qualified to receive a grant will also receive training, guidance, monitoring, and evaluation to prepare them for PIMNAS. "Hopefully this year we could win many categories," he hoped.