The 30th National Student Scientific Week 2017 that runs at Universitas Muslim Indonesia, Makassar was opened officially by Prof. Intan Ahmad, Ph.D, Director General for Learning and Student Affairs in the Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education on Wednesday (23/8).
Intan Ahmad said the event is a forum for the young people that will bring Indonesia to a better level. With hard work and scientific achievements, Indonesia will rank better than other ASEAN countries.
"To meet that goal, we ought to produce good research, innovation, and things that drive the economy.The young generation needs to love scientific matters, knowledge, and research. This needs to be instilled since at young age,” she said.
Intan Ahmad believed the event would produce a number of innovations. With research, students make interactions and think how to resolve a problem scientifically.
With 260 thousand lecturers, 5 thousand professors and more than 5 million of students, according to Intan Ahmad, it is a huge potential in research and publication that can bring Indonesia to excell in Asean.
"Those all will be better with the hard work of the young generation, which is the essence of education, not just doing things for yourselves, but also contributing to the nation. The Student Scientific Week is indeed a way for Indonesia to manifest better,” she said.
Prof. Dr. Achmad Gani, SE, MSI, event chairman of Pimnas 2017, said the event was followed by as many as 89 universities across Indonesia both state and private ones with the total number of 1845 students and 420 officials.
This time there are two competitions to be competed, namely presentation and product/ poster exhibition. There are seven categories in it, namely Student Creativity Program, Research in Exact Sciences, Entrepreneurship, Community Service, Socio-Humanities Research, Technology Application, Creation, and Scientific Writing.
"There are 420 titles to be competed in the seven categories,” he added.
The opening ceremony runs lively with arts performances, attended by Goverrnor of South Sulawesi, Commander of XIV Hasanudin Military Command as well as South Sulawesi Chief of Police.
The Governor, Syahrul Yasin Limpo, welcomed the 30th National Student Scientific Week in Makassar. In his views, it is not just a competition, but commitment of the young generation in responding to challenges. It is a form of the country, students and universities’ determination to make Indonesia better, advanced, and independent.
"Thank you to have South Sulawesi hold the event, this is obviously an honour for us. Through the Pimnas, we see how the young generation try to respond to state and world challenges,” he said.
UGM Biggest Contingent
In the 30th National Student Scientific Week in Makassar, UGM sends the largest contingents along with IPB and Unibraw, which is 31 teams respectively. UGM sends 935 proposals, 129 of which are entitled to receive grants from Higher Learning Directorate General.
"That number is the biggest of all participants, along with Bogor Institute of Agriculture and Universitas Brawijaya. We are optimistic to be able to come back as the grand champion,” said Dr. Senawi, MP, Director of Student Affairs of UGM.