Faculty of Animal Science (Fapet) UGM and BNI (Bank Negara Indonesia) collaborate on entrepreneurial activities entitled Program Akademik Wirausaha Mahasiswa (Student Entrepreneurial Academic Program), abbreviated Prawiramas. Aside from a means for entrepreneurship learning for students, this program also acts as a form of response for Fapet UGM to the “Merdeka Belajar dan Kampus Merdeka” (Freedom to Learn and Independent Campus) program initiated by the Ministry of Education and Culture.
Besides its student business program, it also includes academic activities. It has a supervisor and can be claimed as a subject with a maximum of 6 credits (academic-related terms and conditions apply). Prawiramas targets 50 students in each period with a maximum of IDR 30 million funding per student, meaning the total funds are around IDR 1.5 billion a period.
In the first batch of selection for the first period, 13 students from the Faculty of Animal Science UGM received Prawiramas funds on Thursday (14/1) online. The handover was carried out symbolically by the Dean of the Faculty of Animal Science UGM and Head of the Yogyakarta Regional Office of PT BNI (Persero) Tbk. The program will still open its second batch of selection for this first period until the next two weeks (for students of the Faculty of Animal Science UGM only).
“We are grateful that this idea has finally come into realization. Hopefully, it will be a new milestone in the cooperation between financial institutions and universities, in this respect BNI and the Faculty of Animal Science UGM, to provide students with opportunities to learn entrepreneurship,” said the Dean of Faculty of Animal Science UGM, Prof. Dr. Ir. Ali Agus, DAA., DEA., IPU., ASEAN. Eng., when giving a speech at the handover ceremony.
Agus also reminded students who received Prawiramas funds to be responsible because the funds provided were loans. Students are expected to be responsible for planning and practicing business, managing cash flow, setting spending priorities, managing business plans, and others. Through this activity, he said, students were also given the opportunity to practice the spirit “Sapta Pesona Diri,” which included honesty, discipline, responsibility, enthusiasm, critical thinking, courtesy, and real work.
“We thank (everyone involved) very much. Hopefully, it will be an initial step, like a rolling snowball downhill in the snowball effect, to motivate and arouse students’ passion, that learning is not only theoretical but also practical,” said Ali Agus.
Head of the Yogyakarta Regional Office of PT BNI (Persero) Tbk. Moh. Hisyam expected this activity to be a positive virus for students. It aims to spur them to play an active role in creating job opportunities/independent businesses that are not reliant on the government or other institutions. He hoped this activity would be the first step to produce new entrepreneurs who were reliable and could play an active role in building the country.
“Thank you to the Faculty of Animal Science UGM for the cooperation to create this project. Hopefully, other faculties at UGM will also follow this step to enable us to have more talents in the entrepreneurial field,” said Hisyam.
Secretary for Learning and Cooperation, Directorate of Education and Teaching UGM, dr. Yanri Wijayanti Subronto, Ph.D., Sp.PD-KPTI, FINASIM, who also attended the event, warmly welcomed this idea.
Yanri said students who received funds in this program would be the pioneers and setting points for other students, both in the same intake year and others. He also highlighted this program might bring new experience for the supervisor. He revealed that by doing so, lecturers could also learn from students, which made cooperation like this to be beneficial.
“This program will make students proud of what they are doing because they have undergone entrepreneurial activities from now on, not waiting until graduate first. It will be a historic leap in the world of education,” he concluded.
Author: Hakam