Universitas Gadjah Mada, through its Faculty of Medicine, Public Health, and Nursing (FK-KMK UGM), hosted the 15th ASEAN Medical Deans’ Summit (AMDS) in Yogyakarta from May 25 to 27, 2025.
The summit brought together deans and representatives from leading medical faculties across ASEAN as part of the ASEAN Medical Schools Network (AMSN).
AMDS serves as a platform to strengthen cross-border collaboration in advancing the quality of medical education, accelerating educational technology innovation, and fostering impactful student development and research.
Dean of FK-KMK UGM, Professor Yodi Mahendradhata, stated that the summit aims to encourage the establishment of new partnerships and reinforce existing networks.
It also aims to ensure that jointly identified needs can be translated into concrete and sustainable actions, whether in the form of educational programs, collaborative projects, research, or faculty and student development.
“Through this forum, we hope to generate impactful collaborations that transform our shared needs into real, actionable outcomes,” explained Professor Mahendradhata in a press statement released on Wednesday (Jun. 4).
This year’s summit, he continued, addressed current challenges in the medical field, including artificial intelligence (AI), sustainability, technological innovations, and updated learning materials that support more effective education.
“We also discussed the future of medical research and efforts to support students’ personal development,” he added.
Meanwhile, Professor Dato’ Dr. Yang Faridah Abdul Aziz, President of AMSN, noted that although the AMDS has been held for 14 years and has covered a wide range of topics, many of its benefits have yet to be realized.
“Even though we’ve done so much, we still haven’t acted collectively or achieved synergy,” she said.
Dr. Ahmad Hamim Sadewa, Chair of AMDS 2025, emphasized that students were also actively involved in the discussions. Concepts developed by professors and lecturers to support student development were communicated directly to students to evaluate whether these initiatives aligned with their needs.
According to Dr. Sadewa, students are individuals in a developmental phase and require simulations and facilities to explore their full potential.
“They were invited to express their aspirations for personal development and their own future predictions. These may differ from what lecturers envision; there needs to be alignment between both perspectives,” he said.
Dr. Sadewa emphasized that AMDS 2025 is anticipated to provide a platform for developing a collaborative program framework that can be implemented in the short term and evaluated annually.
This approach ensures that tangible results from the collaboration can be reported in future AMDS forums and contribute meaningfully to medical education across ASEAN. It also marks a significant milestone toward building a more integrated, innovative, and impactful ASEAN medical education community.
Author: Leony
Editor: Gusti Grehenson
Photograph: FK-KMK UGM