Depok, August 9th 2023. Universitas Indonesia (UI) officially started the Introduction to Campus Life for New Students (PKKMB), on Tuesday (8/8), at the Balairung UI, Depok Campus. This activity was attended by 10,159 students from batch 2023 who will take part in a series of campus introduction programs until Thursday (24/8). In his opening speech, UI Rector, Prof. Ari Kuncoro, S.E., M.A., Ph.D. expressed a sense of pride for Indonesia’s best sons and daughters who have become UI academics. According to him, opportunities for students to learn, achieve, and develop competencies, interests, and talents are increasingly wide open.
“There are many ways to develop yourself on the UI campus. In addition to academic activities, students also have many opportunities to develop competencies outside of the classroom through various activities in the fields of sports, arts and community service. In addition, UI students have the opportunity to take part in various Independent Campus Learning Programs (MBKM), both in the form of IISMA scholarships and internship programs at partner companies,” said Prof. Ari.
Talking about competence, Prof. Rhenald Kasali, Ph.D. who was present as a guest speaker at the event also stated that students need to improve their skills in order to compete in the international arena. In his presentation, he mentioned that there were many challenges faced in the “New World” that was currently developing. These aspects of change are Artificial Living with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO); Environment, Social, Governance (ESG); Face to Face and Collaborate: Population Rising and Falling (Disruption); Deep Fake & Hoax: Validity & Reliability Test ; Global Talent Shortage ; as well as the Butterfly Effect, that is, when everyone is connected.
In the era of Artificial Living, many innovations have emerged from genetic modification. For example, fruits that used to be small and had lots of seeds are now being developed, so that people can find bananas, watermelons and even avocados without seeds. Apart from that, various challenges related to environmental, social and government issues are also increasing. In fact, it is not uncommon for fake news to spread easily because of technological sophistication.
Seeing these challenges, Rhenald encouraged students to equip themselves to be able to adapt to various changes in the future. “Many countries need UI graduates, provided that UI graduates have qualities that are able to answer global challenges,” said Rhenald.
According to him, there are five competencies that a person must possess to be able to compete at the world level. The five skills are Conversational IQ, Creativity and Critical Thinking, Intercultural Competence and Citizenship, Digital Literacies, and Ecosystem. Students must have good communication skills as well as creativity and critical thinking. When receiving information, students must be able to check its validity, as they are responsible for the information they disseminate.
Apart from that, students must also be able to understand relations between cultures and citizenship in order to produce solutions to problems experienced by global society. This can be obtained by continuing to increase literacy through digital developments, as well as being sensitive to the environment around them. “That means, as a student, being smart is not enough, social and emotional intelligence is also needed,” said Rhenald.
The challenges that must be answered by these new students are in line with the theme raised in the 2023 UI PKKMB. UI Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. rer. Nat. Abdul Haris said that the main theme of PKKMB UI this year was “Smart, Healthy and Globally Achieving UI Students”. This theme showed UI’s commitment to developing students to not only have academic intelligence, but also uphold physical and mental well-being, and are able to excel on the global stage.
“This activity aims to introduce UI’s academic and extracurricular systems, as well as being an orientation and transition phase from high school students to university students. We believe that through holistic education and comprehensive coaching, UI can become a place for new students to grow so they are able to face various world challenges,” said Prof. Haris.
Meanwhile, the Deputy for Coordination of Education Quality Improvement and Religious Moderation, the Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture (Kemenko PMK), Prof. Warsito, DEA, Ph.D., said that every year, approximately 3.7 million secondary education graduates come from graduates of SMK, SMA and Madrasah Aliyah. Of these, only 800,000 took part in the university entrance selection through the UTBK-SNBT route, and only around 22.77% were accepted through this route.
“Those of you who are here are one of the lucky ones for being able to enter UI, which is a well-known university in Indonesia. This pride must be followed by serious learning efforts to face the many global challenges in the future. The process of education in higher education institutions is a fundamental part of preparing the quality of human resources (HR) for the future. Therefore, to prepare Indonesia Emas 2045, together, we prepare human resources with superior quality and adaptive competence,” said Prof. Warsito.
The opening of the 2023 UI PKKMB, which was attended by Undergraduate and Vocational Program students, was also attended by UI leaders, including the Chair of the Board of Trustees (MWA), Dr. (HC) Noni Purnomo B.Eng., MBA; Chairman of the Academic Senate, Prof. Nachrowi Djalal Nachrowi, M.Sc., M.PHil., Ph.D.; Chairman of the MWA (2019–2023 period) Saleh Husin, S.E., M.Si.; University Secretary, dr. Agustin Kusumayati, M.Sc., Ph.D.; UI Vice Rector for Finance and Logistics, Vita Silvira, S.E., MBA.; UI Vice Rector for Research and Innovation, drg. Nurtami, Ph.D., Sp, OF(K); Vice Rector for Human Resources and Assets, Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA; as well as leadership from faculties, schools and the University Administration Center.
