UNAIR NEWS – Since 2020, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) has actively promoted the Kampus Merdeka programme for universities across Indonesia. This programme is part of the currently effective Merdeka Belajar policy, where students are given the opportunity to improve their skills as well as to gain hands-on experience in preparation of their future careers. UNAIR always incorporates this programme to all its programmes, and their Faculty of Law (FH UNAIR) is no exception.
The Dean of FH UNAIR, namely Iman Prihandono, S.H., M.H., LL.M., Ph.D., in an interview session held by the redactional team on Friday morning (22/10/2021), broadcasted the faculty’s Kampus Merdeka programme, underlining its potential in facilitating law students to be more considerate about their future decisions, by providing law students with the essentials that are not necessarily law-related, such as courses that are not related to law.
“We understand that merely learning about law itself is not sufficient to support our students, we would like them to expand their knowledge, so that aside from deepening their understanding and enhancing their competencies in the field of law, they can also prepare themselves to face things which within 10 to 20 years may expand to something unprecedented. Gojek is one prime example of such an unprecedented change. Neverin the past we thought of getting picked up by drivers upon mere click of our phones, because the custom is that we visit the drivers on their assembly point. This, and many other digitalisation of the economy we have not yet explored,” Dr. Prihandono remarked.
He explained that the endless potential for expansion should be anticipated by the experts and practitioners of law alike, acknowledging that every new expansion will carry legal consequences, therefore regulating them accordingly will be much required, especially to ensure ethical practices and in upholding human rights as well as social justice.
In the context of curriculum design, Dr. Prihandono conceded that there are some improvements to be made for the master programme of law studies at UNAIR, as well as notarial law studies. For the notarial law studies in particular, FH UNAIR introduced a new course on cyber notaryFor the bachelor programme itself, curriculum updates will be finalised in 2022, in line with the goals of Kampus Merdeka programme.
FH UNAIR now accepts students from other national universities, as well as international universities, to take courses at UNAIR. vice versa Likewise, the respective FH UNAIR students are also given the opportunity to take courses at other universities, such as UGM.
“In the near future, we plan to expand our collaborations with governmental bodies such as Ministry of Law and Human Rights, Prosecution Office, OJK (Otoritas Jasa Keuangan/Financial Service Authority), as well as Indonesian Central Bank in terms of conducting internship programme. The perks of Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) programme is that all its internship programmes are credit-bearing, allowing students to convert the credits earned into their credit-earning progress. We are currently developing MBKM Project, where students doing one-semester pitching internship will be rewarded with credits as many as 20 SKS. We have begun to pitch our proposal to OJK”.
Dr. Prihandono later concluded that students must actively seek information regarding the MBKM programme should they wish to participate. He also revealed that the dissemination of information at FH UNAIR is currently being handled by the Division of Student Affairs and the Faculty International Office, who in turn shared the information on Instagram, making it more accessible for students.
Author: Pradnya Wicaksana
Editor: Nuri Hermawan
