YOGYAKARTA – Efforts to increase education quality is not apart from the input quality of new students. Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) realises this well, therefore the Faculty gives special attention right from the planning to the admission. In 2011, there are 4,504 people registering to the Faculty while the number to be admitted only reaches 213, averaging 85 out of 100 points. “There has been significant increase in the past 4 years in terms of applicants,” said Dean of the Faculty, Prof. Dr. drh. Bambang Sumiarto, M.Sc, in the celebration ceremony of 65th Anniversary of Faculty of Veterinary Medicine on Tuesday (20/9).
Bambang said in 2008 there were only 1,215 applicants, increasing to 1,502 in 2009. “In 2010 it was 2,031,” he said.
Bambang said the increase indicated that the image building programme done by the Faculty has run well through proactive socialisation to various public schools in Yogyakarta, Central Java and outside Java. Not only that, the increase has allowed UGM to select more qualified new students. The passing grade can also be improved from year to year. “The good input this year will allow quality improvement of graduates next year,” he said.
Bambang said education at Faculty of Veterinary Medicine UGM would not only prioritise intellectuallity but also learning process that emphasises on softskills. “Students of the Faculty are equipped with skills to adjust to the reality in life so they will find it easy to adapt to the demands,” he said. The education quality improvement is measured in various aspects, such as new student competition, average GPAs, period of study, waiting time for work, number of lecturers with doctoral degree, ratio between lecturers and students, learning facilities, and number of research. To improve the quality, the Faculty is supported by reliable teaching staff. Bambang said until now the percentage of teaching staff with doctoral degree is 53.8% .