Rector of Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono, M.Eng., D.Eng., congratulated an alumnus of UGM which is Ir. Joko Widodo and also Ma’ruf Amin who have just been elected President and Vice-President of the Republic of Indonesia The Rector hoped President Joko Widodo would make achievements this time as in his first term of presidency.
According to the Rector, the government had reduced inflation rates down to 3-4 percent and increased electrification ratio to 98.83 percent. “Even so, there is still plenty to address and new challenges to face,” said the Rector in graduate students inaugural remarks on Wednesday (23/10) in Grha Sabha Pramana UGM.
He further cited the President’s remarks on his presidential inauguration where he mentioned Indonesia’s intention to get out of the middle class trap by year 2045. Later the President said this was logical and feasible to achieve. “But it requires our hard work and innovation to develop new ways in order to achieve this goal,” he was quoted as saying.
In front of 1,904 master, doctor and specialist degree holders, the Rector reinstated the new graduates would take part in the effort to succeed the government’s programme in the next few years. “I believe you who have completed studies at UGM have more than enough capacity to contribute to the state through your respective disciplines,” he said.
For example, Civil Engineering and Spatial Planning graduates can contribute in infrastructure construction to open access to isolated areas while law graduates can contribute in law reforms. Other graduates, he said, have equal roles to achieve a safe and peaceful Indonesia with excellent and innovative human resource. “We ought to utilise technology developments optimally for the interest of the nation,” he said.
At this graduation event, as many as 1,904 graduates were inaugurated, consisting of 1,647 masters, 108 specialists and 149 doctors. The master degree holders include 12 international students. One of them is Miho Fujii who took Double Degree programme in Forestry. The graduate from Japan expressed her excitement to have studied at UGM. Initially her friends in Japan thought she would find it difficult to adapt to her new environs in Indonesia. “Many of my friends told me I wouldn’t fit to be in Indonesia, but this had just made me more enthusiastic,” she said.
To finish her study at Forestry UGM, said Miho Fujii, she had to work very hard because of having to write two theses for Kyoto University and UGM. “I’m thankful I’ve earned this worthwhile experience, having lecturers who had previously graduated from Japan that enabled me to communicate better and they were happy to have me as a student of UGM,” she said.
She had chosen a Double Degree programme at UGM due to her interest in the numerous types of tropical wood in Indonesia. Not all of the things she was curious about were available in Japan. “I was interested in the various types of wood, Japan did not have those. My studies here were to conduct research into unique tropical woods,” she explained.