UGM inaugurated as many as 1,633 graduate students that consisted of 1,499 master, 83 doctoral and 51 specialists. The average study period for the master program is 2 years and 9 months, specialist program is 4 years and 6 months, and doctoral program is 5 years and 11 months. Shortest study period for master program was achieved by Penny Kurnia Putri from International Relations Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, who graduated within 1 year and a month. For the specialist program, shortest study period was achieved by Fransiska from Children’s Dentistry Department, Faculty of Dentistry, who completed the study within 2 years and 20 days. As for the doctoral program, Yohanes Martono from Pharmaceutical Science Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, holds a doctorate degree within 2 years 10 months and 26 days.
The youngest graduate from the master program was Indri Claudia Magdalena Marpaung from Industrial Engineering at the age of 21 years 6 months and 10 days. Furthermore, for a program specialist, it was Beryl Nugroho of Children’s Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry, who completed the study at the age of 26 years 9 months and 21 days.
Average GPA of the Master program is 3.57, specialist program and doctoral programs are 3.85 and 3.71. The highest GPA of the master program was achieved by Rizky Muhammad Ramadhan of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering who earned a GPA of 4.00. For specialist program the highest GPA was achieved by Mohammad Eko Proyogo of Ophthalmology Science, Faculty of Medicine, who graduated with a 3.96 GPA. As for the doctoral program, the highest GPA was achieved by Agus Suprihanto of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, who graduated with a 4.00 GPA.
Rector, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D., in her speech said that UGM alumni are expected to help the government address the problem of economic inequality and poverty, because, in the last 10 years the expenditure distribution gap index or Gini ratio had increased from 0.32 to 0.41. “Inequality of income in the last 10 years has widened,” said Rector in the graduation ceremony held at Grha Sabha Pramana, Wednesday (19/10).
The Rector said the higher the Gini ratio index shows that the level of social welfare has not been reached. Rector said the country with the highest Gini ration index is Namibia with an index value of 0.7. While the country with the lowest inequality is Denmark with a value of 0.2. According to Dwikorita, it is not easy for the government to lower the Gini ratio index because Indonesia is not fully sovereign in facing global economic power. “We are not fully sovereign in facing global economic power. We also are not fully sovereign in terms of food and health,” she explained.
Nevertheless, added the Rector, those threats not to weaken the spirit of unity among the Indonesian people. But on the contrary, it is to bring us together in solving the problem of poverty in the community. “I call for UGM alumni to unite, despite different ethnicity, religion and discipline, let us fight inequality, poverty and ignorance because we all have a shared responsibility to lift the life of our less fortunate brothers,” she concluded. (UGM / adelily)