UGM received the visit of 10 members of US delegation at the Multimedia Room, Central Office, UGM, Wednesday (29/7). The group which consisted of leaders of 10 Universities in the US was welcomed by the Rector of UGM Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi, M. Eng., Ph. D., along with the University leaders such as the Senior Vice Rector of Education, Research and Community Service, the Vice rector of Alumni and Business Development, the Executive Secretary, and the Deans of some Faculties in UGM. Besides, the Director of Higher Education Institute (P2M Dikti) also welcomed the delegations.
The ten delegates were Dr. Thak Cholemtiarana, from Cornell University; Dr. Mohamed S. El Aaser from Leigh University; Mr. Ronald La Fayette from North Seattle Community College; Dr. Stephen Dunnet from University of Buffalo; James Collins from Northern Illinois University; Dr. William Brustein from Ohio State University; Jay Lemans from Susquehanna University; Charles Sullivia from University of Michigan and Veronica Taylor from University of Washington.
The arrival of the delegation was the follow up to the visit made by US Secretary of States Hillary Clinton, who expressed her commitment to make cooperation in education with Indonesia. UGM is one of the universities along with ITB (Bandung Institute of Technology), UI (University of Indonesia), IPB (Bogor Agricultural Institute), and Udayana University.
In this occasion, UGM introduced further about the achievements gained by its students in International events. Several Deans of Faculties such as Medical Faculty, Faculty of Pharmacy, Faculty of Forestry and CRCS (Center of Religion and Cross-Cultural Studies) explained about their excellent programs and achievements in this meeting.
Dr. Rachmat Sriwijaya, The Head of Office of International Affairs (KUI) UGM, in this event delivered about the important point of the visit. For the US it is a kind of survey in looking for qualified University partners in Indonesia. Besides, there are also lecturers exchange and joint research. “This matter becomes very crucial for UGM, in which we have to show all our potential, including facilities, program, and others resources. This is done in order to convince them that UGM is highly suitable to become their partner.†Rachmat explained.
Indonesia is chosen as a cooperation partner of US because they consider Indonesia as a potential state that has attractive cultures and tourism. Even so UGM that is located in Yogyakarta, which has attraction as Education City, Culture City and Tourism City. “ These three points become its strengths. UGM has high quality of education and multiculturalism. Many people asses UGM as Indonesian miniature where all Indonesian cultures can be found in Yogyakarta, particularly in UGM. We sell this point to them,†Rachmat said
Further he said that American students who study in Indonesia were not fully education-oriented but cross-culture-oriented. To cite US Ambassador to Indonesia, Cameron Hume, during his recent visit to UGM, Rachmat said the US views Indonesia as important state for the US now and in future. Indonesia is considered to have the potential to become great nation. This was made the base of the student exchange cooperation program.
He added, this event was an effort to make the relationship between Indonesia and US closer through University cooperation. One example was increasing the number of American scholarship students in Indonesia. Last year it was only 1,500 and this year 3,000 students. There is also the increasing number of Indonesian students in the US from 500 to 1,000 people.Â