UNAIR NEWS – Kampus Merdeka is a directive issued by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek), with the aim to encourage students to possess wide range of skills upon graduating. One of the directives instructs that students take courses outside of the courses specified to their major.
The Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP UNAIR) is one of the fifteen faculties in UNAIR which has employed cross-study programme courses for years, prior to the Kampus Merdeka directive, known as ‘saling menyapa’ customs. The Dean, Prof. Bagong Suyanto, revealed, “We designed so that students may take courses from another study programme, but still within the same faculty, on different level of semesters. Some courses outside their study programme are also obligatory. This is in line with FISIP founders’ vision to support both multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary studies within the faculty, where students, although staying within their own perimeter of studies, still manage to interact with other disciplines, as in ‘saling menyapa’.”
Prof. Suyanto further explained, that with the implementation of Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) programme, the customs of ‘saling menyapa’, which in essence if the interaction between the existing disciplines in the faculty, now has evolved into a more broad engagement between disciplines, the scope is now extended to university-wide. Upholding the ideas of ‘merdeka belajar’, the departments under FISIP UNAIR is reconstructing their curricula in an attempt to diversify their courses, as well as preparing for the reorganisation of their administrative management, with the main plan to create task force specialising on credit conversion procedure. “This is in part so that FISIP students, who have already possessed excellent academic track record, can propose to the faculty to graduate without publishing a thesis, or at the very least they can convert the credits they’ve earned so that it will be officially recorded in their transcript.”
Moreover, FISIP UNAIR is focusing on establishing Pusat Pengembangan Talenta Mahasiswa (Board of Students’ Talent Development) to facilitate students in upgrading their skills and competencies, by providing intensive supervision for students who are joining competitions, research, student exchange, as well as other programmes initiated by the Ministry.
As many as 17 FISIP students have successfully enrolled for Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA), a further proof of FISIP’s unwavering support towards its students’ talent development, especially through their participation in Kampus Merdeka programme. “In line with FISIP’s taglines, namely progressive, active, humanist, we are ready to provide our students with the best services, with careful consideration of their potential. We are doing our best to cater to their needs,” Prof. Suyanto confided.
Last but not least, he remarked, “The whole point of MBKM programme is more or less founded on the very same thing that FISIP UNAIR’s values stand for, which is adaptability, positioning our students as the subject of learning itself, giving them a role that allows them to boundlessly expand their own knowledge.”
Author: Stefanny Elly
Editor : Khefti Al Mawalia
