Universitas Gadjah Mada builds cooperation on education and profession sectors with Indonesian Engineer Association (PII) which is marked by the signing of Memorandum of Understanding on Tuesday (14/3) at UGM main office. Meanwhile, in another occasion, UGM Rector also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Timor Tengah Utara (North Central Timor) District Government.
The cooperation with PII aims to enhance and develop the quality of education and profession in order to give more contribution in the enhancement and development of human resource competencies and professionalism. According to the Head of Indonesian Engineer Association, Dr. A. Hermanto Dardak, M.Sc., IPU, this cooperation is essential to decrease our dependency on foreign workforce.
“We hope by cooperating with UGM, we can see process from innovation until mass production. We hope we can move forward and enhance Indonesian engineers’ quality,” said Hermanto.
The scope of the Memorandum of Understanding includes education sector on the enhancement and development of human resource competencies and exchange, as well as profession sector on engineer capability training, including profession certification test, capability development, and other agreed activities.
“In the near future, we will prepare an engineering profession program which has 24 credits on various fields of interess, such as mechanical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, geodesy engineering, animal science, and forestry,” said UGM Rector, Prof. Ir. Dwikorita Karnawati, M.Sc., Ph.D.
Furthermore, the cooperation with practitioners is expected to give benefits to UGM students, particularly who want to do internship.
“We hope the PII can give broader access to UGM students who want to do internship through the ongoing projects so they do not have to line up,” she added.
On the same day, UGM rector also signed another Memorandum of Understanding with the local government of Timor Tengah Utara District, East Nusa Tenggara Province, on education, research, and community service sectors. The cooperation is strengthened by the signing of cooperation on coastal communities’ empowerment through the development of fish products by Faculty of Agriculture UGM.
The Regent of Timor Tengah Utara District, Raymundus Sau Fernandes, S.Pt., said the district’s main problem is the inability of coastal communities in utilizing the district’s marine potencies. Despite the marine potencies, most of the coastal communities make a living from farms and animal husbandries.
“We are trying to encourage farmers to shift into making use of the sea as their source of livelihoods. It is difficult to change their mindset in a short time,” said Raymundus.
He hopes by cooperating with UGM, it can give a brighter future for marine industries in Timor Tengah Utara through the preparation of excellent and high skills human resources. UGM Rector gives positive response and appreciation to the Timor Tengah Utara local government. She would like to give full support to the programs which are expected to increase the coastal communities’ prosperity.
“We have the same commitment in maintaining Indonesian prosperity and sovereignty. We will encourage education, research, and community service development programs in order to create smart and resilient villages, as well as solving social gap issue,” she concluded. (Humas UGM/Fiki)