Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) and Universitas Pattimura (UNPATI), Maluku, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Tuesday, Jul. 9, 2024, at the UGM Central Office. Both parties have agreed to expand the scope of research and innovation collaboration and open opportunities for student exchange programs.
The MoU was signed by Professor Fredy Leiwakabessy, the Rector of Universitas Pattimura, and Professor Supriyadi, UGM’s Vice-Rector for Human Resources and Finance.
The event was attended by the UGM Director of Student Affairs, Dr. Sindung Tjahyadi, the UGM Director of Community Service, Dr. Rustamaji, and the UGM Director of Partnerships and Global Relations, Professor Puji Astuti.
This MoU continues the collaboration that began in 2014. At that time, Universitas Pattimura signed a Cooperation Agreement (MoA) with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Engineering, UGM Faculty of Engineering (FT UGM), to assist in the operator training for the Academic Database and the Internal Quality Assurance System at UNPATI.
The collaboration was further expanded in 2021 with the UGM Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA UGM) to organize certified internships for lecturers and students and with the UGM Faculty of Law (FH UGM) in 2022 to collaborate in the field of tri-dharma.
Professor Leiwakabessy expressed his hope that the collaboration will benefit both institutions, especially in developing human resources in Indonesia, particularly in the eastern region.
“UGM, as a leading university in Indonesia and the world, is a place for us to send our teaching staff to pursue their master’s and doctoral studies. With the signing of this MoU, we hope for more intensive cooperation and for UGM to play a greater role in guiding UNPATI in tri-dharma, particularly in research collaboration, community service, and student exchange through the MBKM scheme,” said Professor Leiwakabessy.
The UNPATI Rector explained that last year, his university conducted benchmarking for the Community Service Program (KKN) management and plans to do the same in other fields.
He hopes that the MoU will lead to more concrete and implementable cooperation, including in developing UNPATI into a PTN-BH (State University with Legal Entity status), as it is currently still a PTN-BLU (Public Service Agency State University), to improve the quality of higher education management in Eastern Indonesia.
“This collaboration is part of UNPATI’s commitment to improving the quality of education, research, and community service,” Professor Leiwakabessy concluded.
Vice-Rector Supriyadi stated that, as the oldest state university in Indonesia, UGM has a moral responsibility to collaborate with and assist other universities by sharing the best practices from UGM.
“But we also believe that there are good practices at Universitas Pattimura that we can implement here. Hopefully, with this cooperation, Universitas Pattimura can soon become a PTN-BH for more autonomous management,” the vice-rector said.
He added that this MoU is the initial formal step that must be followed up with a Cooperation Agreement to regulate operational activities.
Examples include the management of KKN, student exchanges through the MBKM program, visiting scholars for teaching staff, and study visits for administrative staff.
“Although we still don’t know whether the MBKM program will continue, we believe that programs that have been running well, especially for developing students’ hard and soft skills, must be continued. In the future, UNPATI students can be sent to study at UGM and vice versa. As for the lecturers, we are open to UNPATI lecturers who want to observe the learning process at UGM, and likewise for staff who want to stay in Yogyakarta for some time to learn,” he concluded.
Author: Triya Andriyani
Photographer: Firsto
Post-editor: Lintang