UNESA students undertake international student exchange through the UGMA program at Saekyung College, South Korea.
Unesa. ac.id, SURABAYA—The 'Home of Champions' Campus through the Subdirectorate of International Affairs or Office of International Affairs (OIA), initiated an international student exchange program both inbound and outbound. The program is called UNESA Global Mobility Awards (UGMA).
Head of Sub-Directorate for International Affairs, Asrori, S.S., M.Pd., explained that UGMA was initiated as an opportunity for UNESA students to be able to carry out student exchange< /em> with various forms of activities ranging from PLP, internships, sit-in class or cultural exchange at various foreign universities.
Through this program , UNESA's initial plan was to send 30 students for outbound international mobility. However, through the equity program, UNESA succeeded in sending no less than 40 students to various countries such as Australia, Germany, South Korea, China, Malaysia and Thailand this year.
Exchange program This aims to increase UNESA's internationalization. International mobility is one of OIA's responsibilities. Since 2020, OIA has facilitated the mobility of students and lecturers abroad.
This year, UNESA received special funding from the ministry and LPDP specifically aimed at international student mobility. "The budget is used to send UGMA program students to their destination countries," said the lecturer at the Faculty of Languages and Arts (FBS).
The UGMA program has sent a number of students to various overseas universities this year. There are 5 students studying at Kamphaeng Phet Rajabhat University, Thailand, and 10 students who are going to Saekyung University, South Korea.
Furthermore, there are 6 students who are PLP at the Indonesian Embassy in Australia, there are also 10 students who are going to Zhengzhou Information Engineering Vocational College, China. Then, there are 2 students at the Jeddah Indonesian School, and 2 more students who are collaborating industrial interns with the University of Malaysia Sabah.
Recruitment was carried out in 2 waves in February and April 2024. UNESA also sent its students to Australia, Thailand and South Korea last April.
Other students will depart next June to Germany, China and Saudi Arabia. The students involved in this program have served at least 4 semesters as active UNESA students with a minimum GPA of 3 and include English language certification (TEP/DET/TOEFL ITP/TOEFL IBT/IELTS).
Asrori hopes that UGMA can become a pilot project for UNESA to facilitate the mobility of students and lecturers in addition to ministry programs such as IISMA or ICT. In order for this program to be more successful and provide more opportunities for students and lecturers, he is committed to continuing to increase international collaboration partners.
This program is not only outbound or outbound students, but also inbound or external students who study at UNESA either in the form of a short program or long program through international credit transfer program. "We accept students from Thailand, the Philippines, China, Malaysia, Korea for the inbound program," he said.
This program is a rare opportunity for students because not all have the opportunity for outward mobility country through the UGMA program. Of the thousands of UNESA students, only 40 students can depart or no more than one percent of UNESA students.
"Of course this is a prestigious program and we hope that students who are accepted into this program can learn a lot from what they have to offer. they do it abroad," he said.
Students who have been accepted into this program can become UNESA ambassadors and become a funnel for introducing UNESA and Indonesia in general on the international stage. In this way, as an institution, UNESA itself will be known internationally and as a productive partner.
In other words, foreign partners will not only sign the MoU but also implement the MoU that has been signed jointly. So that UNESA's vision to become a world-class university is achieved.
"The benefit for students is that they get extraordinary experience in the relevant country. "For interns and PLP students, they can continue their careers abroad, either for teaching, studying, and so on with the portfolio they have with activities abroad," he said.(*)
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Reporter: Rafa Afifa Maharani (Fisipol)
Editor: @zam*
Photo: UGMA team documentation
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