Universitas Indonesia (UI) welcomed back the international accreditation team of the Accreditation Agency in Health and Social Sciences (AHPGS) on Monday, September 23. Acting Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Dr. Ir. Dedi Priadi, DEA., revealed that UI is very careful in determining the international accreditation institution. Only institutions that are considered capable and recognized by the Indonesian government are selected, including AHPGS, which has a wide network across continents. “Here we see that AHPGS has clear assessment indicators and can be used as a reference for performance evaluation for us as a university,” he said.
On that occasion, Prof. Dedi hopes that five study programs (prodi) of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) and two study programs of the Faculty of Humanities (FIB) will soon follow four study programs from the Health Sciences Cluster (RIK) which have received international accreditation from the same institution in 2022. The five FISIP study programs that will undergo AHPGS accreditation include the Ilmu Komunikasi (Communication Science) Undergraduate Study Program, the Ilmu Hubungan Internasional (International Relations) Undergraduate Study Program, the Ilmu Komunikasi (Communication Science) Masters Study Program, the Ilmu Hubungan Internasional (International Relations) Masters Study Program, and the Ilmu Komunikasi (Communication Science) Doctoral Study Program. Meanwhile, two study programs from FIB that have stated their readiness to follow the assessment procedure by AHPGS are the Ilmu Perpustakaan (Library Science) Undergraduate Study Program and the Sastra Indonesia (Indonesian Literature) Undergraduate Study Program. The field assessment by AHPGS will be conducted for two days on September 23 and 24, 2024.
University Secretary of UI, dr. Agustin Kusumayati, M.Sc., Ph.D., is confident that the international accreditation that FISIP and FIB will obtain is one sign that the quality of the UI Social Sciences and Humanities (Soshum) Cluster is able to compete at the global level. In addition, with this AHPGS accreditation, she hopes that opportunities for collaboration with universities in Europe will be more open. dr. Agustin is very aware that the challenge of realizing the internationalization of this cluster is higher than the Science and Technology (Saintek) Cluster or RIK. “Although, until now, the Soshum cluster is still in the process of increasing internationalization, it should be noted that the academic community of FISIP and FIB has taken various real steps whose contributions are felt to the lowest levels through community service programs and cooperation with the government,” she said.
Core Expertise AHPGS who is also an Indonesian Philologist from the University of Cologne, Prof. Edwin Wieringa appreciated the performance of the two faculties in contributing to the progress of Indonesia. He hopes that the social work carried out by UI can be aligned with the motto “Entrepreneurial University”. Responding to this expectation, dr. Agustin stated that the community service program has helped empower the community’s economy through entrepreneurial ideas formulated together, such as optimizing processed banana and fish products in Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi, and developing pour-over coffee in East Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara. UI’s seriousness in internationalizing the social and humanities cluster is carried out through a lecturer exchange mechanism with partners abroad.
Head of the Academic Quality Assurance Agency, Prof. Sri Hartati D. Reksodiputro, Ph.D., explained the adjunct professor program at UI which routinely invites international teaching staff to UI or sends UI teaching staff to various foreign partners. For example, the International Relations undergraduate study program routinely collaborates with universities from South Korea to hold joint classes. Furthermore, there is a research ambassador program, which opens up opportunities for collaboration with universities that are in the top 100 in the world to spur innovation and competitiveness at the global level.
The involvement of FISIP and FIB students outside the campus through the Independent Learning Campus (MBKM) program mechanism is also another factor that can be taken into account in assessing the performance of the two faculties. The Head of the Center of Independent Learning (CIL) UI, Astha Ekadiyanto, S.T., M.Sc explained that UI pays great attention to MBKM. In fact, in the 2023 Independent Learning Award, UI managed to rank first as the “Higher Education Institution with the Highest Percentage of Students Participating in the MBKM Program”.
The AHGPS visit to UI was led by Georg Reschaur, Managing Director, along with nine delegates, including Prof. Dr. Sandra Destradi, Prof. Christine Gläser, Prof. Dr. Marion Halfmann, Prof. Dr. Olaf Hoffjann, Prof. Dr. Jakob Lempp, Prof. Dr. Edwin Wieringa, Prof. Dr. Jana Wolf Sussman, Daniel Bachmann, and Corina Sutter. Meanwhile, UI representatives who attended consisted of leaders at the Administration Center and also leaders at FISIP and FIB.
