UNS – As an effort to break the chain of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) transmission, the Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta conducts an Online Admission Test for the Stage 1 Specialist Medical Education Program (PPDS) Admission on Saturday (25/4/2020). During the test, all participants are completing their written exams at home, whilst the supervisor carries out supervision from UNS.
The Deputy of Postgraduate New Student Admission Selection (SPMB) UNS, Ahmad Marzuki, Ph.D., while monitoring the implementation of the online admission test said that UNS Online PPDS Admission Test is carried out by combining the Mobile Based Testing (MBT) and video conference platform Blue Jeans. The materials tested consist of Academic Potential Test (TPA) and English Test. In an effort to ensure the quality of the online test, including to prevent cheating, UNS has established an online test in detail including the examination layout, device specification, the order of the execution of the tests, and the competencies of the examiners.
The first stage of the Online PPDS test in April 2020 was followed by 131 prospective students from 22 provinces in Indonesia. Most importantly, thanks to this online remote examination technology, some doctors who are currently in their duty in remote areas or serving at the forefront in handling Covid-19 Pandemic can join the selection process.
Aside from the online examination, UNS also gives the opportunity to other students to enroll in PPDS selection by uploading TPA and English proficiency certificate, which recognized nationally and internationally, namely the TPA OTO BAPPENAS and ITP TOEFL.
“There are 116 prospective students who follow the first stage selection by uploading TPA and TOEFL certificate, thus the total participants in the PPDS Selection on April 2020 are 247 participants,” explains Marzuki.
Marzuki added that the UNS PPDS Admission Test in 2020 is conducted following the recommendation from the Indonesian Medical Collegium Assembly (Majelis Kolegium Kedokteran Indonesia-MKKI) regarding the selection process during COVID-19 pandemic. The PPDS Test for April 2020 that initially designed for new students starting in August 2020 is revamped to be a part of new students’ selection for the semester starting on February 2021.
“In other words, PPDS UNS is not accepting new PPDS students for the semester starting on August 2020,” he added.
All participants who deemed pass the admission test at this stage will be required to do a re-registration together with the prospective students who passed another first stage of admission test from October to November 2020.
Meanwhile, the Head of SPMB UNS, Prof. Ahmad Yunus, accompanied by the Executive Secretary of SPMB UNS, Prof. Hadiwiyono, during their monitoring on Online PPDS Admission Test in Faculty of Medical Science (FK) UNS, mentioned that the test was running well.
“For this first test stage, there are two sessions, the TPA and English Proficiency. The test was started at 09.00 WIB until 13.30 WIB. Alhamdulillah, it went well, hopefully, with this online test we can break the chain of COVID-19 transmission,” Prof. Yunus concluded. Humas UNS/Dwi
