For the academic stakeholders, May 2nd is a very important day that is full of meaning, inspiration and motivation in advancing the nation through the development of human resources. At UGM, the commemoration of National Education Day is celebrated with flag ceremonies, involving thousands of lecturers, academic staff and students.
During the ceremony, Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M.Eng., D.Eng., as the ceremony inspector delivered a speech from the Minister of Research, Technology, and Higher Education regarding the sub-theme of National Education Day (2018) that is Adjusting Higher Education, Improving the Quality of Human Resources.
“In the development of human resources, education plays a major role, because in higher education, especially, there is a requirement to conduct research for the development of science and technology, beneficial to the welfare of Indonesia and the world,” Mohamad Nasir stated in his speech.
“In addition to understanding the change process, we must be capable of responding to the challenges of this revolution. If we don’t, our higher education system will not capture the true social reality,” he added.
For that reason, the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher Education has designed many programs to improve the access, relevance, and quality of higher education. UGM in particular also continues to improve the quality, familiarize with the community, as well as actively contribute in solving various problems of the nation.
“Some of our strategic and operational plans towards World Class University 5.0 include improving the ratio of lecturer-student, enhancing internationalization, improving citation and impact of researches, increasing the number of lecturers with doctoral degree by 35%, as well as initiating more research collaboration with industries,” said the Rector of UGM.
Panut added that with the current world challenges, UGM must continue to adjust the curriculum and expand the capacity of students to meet the demands of society and industries and to contribute to solving the problems of the nation.
In order to realize these goals, the Rector invited all members of UGM academic community to work harder and more consistently, to collaborate effectively with the internals and externals, and to prepare themselves in facing the dynamics of change.