In the effort to prepare the awardees of Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) 2022 for the undergraduate student, Universitas Indonesia coorperate with the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research to hold a Webinar with the theme “The prevention of Bullying”, on Monday (6/6). This Webinar is one of the programs of the IISMA Pre-Departure Series which purpose is to prepare the students by giving a guidance before their departure.
This time, the IISMA Pre-Departure series is about the prevention and the protection for the awardees from the potential bullying and abusement abroad. Universitas Indonesia invites two speaker which are the Sexual Violence Prevention and Handling Staff in the Competency and Management Special Staff Team to Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Vita R. Yudhani, and the lecturer of Faculty of Psychology Universitas Indonesia, Nathanael E. J. Sumampouw, M.Psi., M.Sc., Psikolog. Related to this, the head of the IISMA for the undergraduate program 2022, Andi Rahadian Wijaya, Ph.D., and the head of the International Office Universitas Indonesia, drg. Baiduri Widanarko, M.KKK, Ph.D., hope that this program can make the awardees to be more sensitive to the surrounding environment, especially the abusive and bullying cases which happen in the academic sphere.
Vita said that there are three huge abusement in the academic sphere. They are bullying, sexual harrashment, and intolerance. Any form of bullying and abusement in the academic field must be prevented and handled seriously because it can lead to a signifacnt complex effects. “To eliminate the three most severe abusement form, a joint movemeny by not only the victim, but also the surrounding is needed. We have to work together to create an academic sphere that safe from any abusement.”, Vita, who is the alumni of Faculty of Social and Political Science, said.
IISMA is Merdeka Belajar Program (Independent learning program) from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, and LPDP the institution who manage the education fund. This scholarship program that has existed since 2021 is purposed to give a chance to the undergraduate students (in the 4-6 semester) to study in top universities abroad for one semester. In 2022, 195 awardees are Universitas Indonesia’s students. This makes Universitas Indonesia the university that sends most awardees abroad (America, Asia, Australia, and Europe).
In the pre departure program, the regulation of abusement in academic field is also explained. Awardees is hoped to be able to build a solidarity to prevent abusemnet, pay attention to the victim, and reporting if there is an abusement and bullying in their surrounding. During the study period abroad, awardees might experience culture shock dan other psychological issues. This issue is important as a mental issue has tight relation to abusement and bullying. In relation to the cultural aspect, Nathanael explain the significance in understanding the social, and norm condition abroad. It is important that the awardees be respectful to the foreign culture as it is the proper etiquette.
Bullying and abusement are often started with an unbalance power relation. Diferenciation and knowledge about the people and culture abroad is one of the factors too. According to Nathanael, to protect one self from bullying and abusement abroad, awardees should build a social network connection with other friends, especially those who are from Indonesia and has lived for a long time in that country. Building a social relation with the fellow Indonesian who lives there will help the awardees to undertand and relate to the country.
If the awardees experience or witness any form of bullying and abusement, they can do the look-listen-link. Look is being done by observing the victim’s condition. Listen is being done by listen and giving a support to the victim. And link is being done by reaching out to the authority “I think the challenge for the awardees right now is to be the awardee that understand gender, abusement, and cultural differences issues,” said Nathanael as he closed his explanation.
