Universitas Gadjah Mada established a cooperation with a number of institutions, which are Adisutjipto Technology Academy (STTA), local governments of Pangkal Pinang, Sorong Selatan and Buton Tengah on Friday (18/5) in the Multimedia room of UGM Main Office. The memorandum of understanding covers areas of education, training, research, community service, and function improvement of apparatuses.
Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M.Eng., D.Eng., said the signing of the MoU was expected to encourage quality development of each institution. With STTA, it was expected to improve education and training development
“The cooperation can give benefits to both institutions in order that they get better in education, training, and sharing resource,” he said.
The Rector further said that with the three local governments, UGM always committed to making contributions to accelerate the local development.
“UGM always contributes to the regional development throughout Indonesia in order that people’s welfare can be soon achieved,” he said.
He hoped the MoU would soon be followed up by what programme to do according to the need of each region. “A follow-up is needed to devise the programme according to priorities,” he said.
Chairman of STTA, T. Ken Darmastono, M.Sc., welcomed the cooperation with UGM to improve the quality of education.
Acting Mayor of Pangkal Pinang, Dr. Asyraf Suryadin, M.Pd., said human resource quality of government apparatuses was the problem. “Particularly, human resource in health areas is still lacking,” he said.
In research, Pangkal Pinang is developing tourism and services. Asyraf Suryadin expected UGM to contribute to this area. “We have a population of 200 thousand that are now expected to develop our tourism opportunities,” he said.
Acting Secretary of BPBD Sorong Selatan, George Kondjol, said Sorong Selatan region in West Papua was prone to natural disasters that it called for cooperation with UGM on formulating a master plan in disaster mitigation.
Head of Planning and Development Agency of Buton Tengah, L. Syamsudin Suryadin, M.Pd., said the Buton Tengah was a new regency rich in natural resources. “We want the improvements in terms of human resource, science and knowledge as well,” he said.