UNAIR NEWS – Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) has been consistently proving their unwavering support towards the implementation of Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) programme. Based on the 2020 Rector’s Decree No. 23, UNAIR has executed policies and programmes aimed at improving knowledge, soft skill set, and interactions amongst its students.
In terms of the campus’ internal scope, UNAIR has allowed its students to take cross-study courses. The Director of Education Prof. Sukardiman, explained that steps that UNAIR has taken so far reflects its commitment to broaden students’ insights so that it is not limited to one particular topic only.
“Pharmacy or Medicine students can take Law courses to learn drug regulations or medical legal. "Similarly, students in other study programs are free to choose courses across study programs that can support their knowledge," explained the UNAIR Pharmacy Professor in the field of Pharmacology.
The programme was successfully implemented, thanks to the redesigning of the curricula that each faculty and department have worked on for the past year. As a reward, faculties with successful redesigning of the curricula were given incentives, to accelerate both the lecturers’ and the students’ programme.
Apart from that, UNAIR is currently preparing programme innovation entitled Pembelajaran Dasar Bersama (Collective Basic Lesson) which has been launched as a mandatory general course for all students.
“The programme has been made available for freshman (first-year) students. Its sole purpose is to introduce UNAIR virtues, which include a sense of belonging towards one’s national identity, as well as to facilitate cross-discipline interactions,” he added.
UNAIR is also currently hosting Pertukaran Mahasiswa Merdeka (Merdeka Student Exchange) which has gained a lot of interest from students all over Indonesia, so much so that the registration site crashed upon the last day of application.
UNAIR itself has completed its selection process for no less than 100 students who applied for the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA). The programme will later dispatch students to study abroad.
UNAIR has also implemented MBKM which ranges from internship programme, partnership with industry, teaching/lab assistant project, entrepreneurship, community services programme (kuliah kerja nyata/KKN), humanitarian projects, as well as independent training programme.
“All our MBKM activities have generated amazing outputs, of which the report will be submitted to DIKTI later,” Prof. Sukardiman concluded.
Having said those, Prof. Sukardiman conceded that there are challenges to be tackled still, such as the academic calendar difference between HEIs, the ongoing pandemic, which have stripped the MBKM off of its essence.
Therefore, representing UNAIR, he only hopes that the pandemic will end soon. “The interesting thing about Merdeka Belajar kan actually social interaction, culture, and field practice. "That's why when the pandemic is over, we are optimistic that this program will be more successful with many times more student participants," he said. (*)
Author: Intang Arifia
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
