Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia, Donald Bobiash, paid a visit to UGM. The delegates were received by Rector of UGM, Prof. Ir. Pratikno, M.Soc., Sc., in the Central Office on Wednesday (26/2).
In his first visit to UGM, Ambassador Bobiash explored possibilities for cooperations between Canadian Government and UGM. He hoped to be able to strengthen the ties that have been going on.
He added that new cooperations could be extended. The reason is that up to this time, not many cooperations have been established between Canadian higher learning institutions and UGM. So far, only the University of Waterloo and the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business University Victoria have started the cooperation, which inludes student, lecturer and staff exchange; joint research; summer program; and joint double degree program.
Currently, a small number of Canadian students have studied at UGM with only 4 in year 2010, 13 in 2011, 4 in 2012, and 4 in 2013. The Ambassador expected that in the future many more Canadian students would conduct studying at UGM.
The UGM Rector shared this opinion, saying that “UGM is very open. Everyone, including Canadian people, may study here,” he explained.
Pratikno said that UGM respects pluralism. This can be seen in the diverse ethnicities of students studying here. “Our students come from different regions across Indonesia, from different ethnic groups and cultures. Hence, UGM is very plural,” he said.