UNS – The International Office (IO) of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, held an online talk show entitled ’50 Global Challengers’ on Thursday (23/5/2020) noon. The online Talk Show was held as a closing for a series of fund-raising activities initiated by the UNS International Office by selling an e-book that contains inspirational writing from 50 UNS Global Challenge (GC) awardees which proceeds will be fully donated to informal workers affected by the 2019 Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The Talkshow was opened by the Head of UNS International Office, Irwan Trinugroho, Ph.D. In his remark, he hopes that this online talk show can give an opportunity to the UNS students, who are interested to join the UNS GC, to explore the experience of the GC Awardee.
During this occasion, the UNS International Office invites 6 students who were GC Awardees to share their stories and tips for passing the GC selection. The invited students are Afrizal Faisal Ali, Aini Nurjanah, Prista Kusumaningtyas, Hemas Anggari Laras, Suci Faniandari, and Rahmat Jaya Eka.
One of the UNS GC awardee, Hemas Anggari Laras, who had the opportunity to do a short course at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore in 2016, shares her experience in front of the 180 talk show participants. She mentioned that her experience in Singapore becomes an added value during the job recruitment process.
“The international exposure I got during my time in Singapore provides an added value during a job recruitment process. I applied for a job at 6 companies and all of them were accepted, those experiences in UNS GC adds to my portfolio, which helps me during FGD selection and interview process. Upon entering the working world, I was also able to compete to the point that I earn the top performer title for two consecutive periods at a national state-owned bank. From this achievement, I got another reward for traveling to Singapore,” said Hemas.
The benefit of GC UNS during job recruitment is also experienced by Afrizal Faisal Ali. Afrizal who earns the opportunity to participate in an International Conference in Norway said that his experience in GC help him land a job on a mining company.
“Back then, my GPA during my Diploma study was poor, however, after graduated from UNS I earned a cum laude with a GPA of 3.52 and become the fastest graduating student among the other UNS transfer students. My habit every night when in my studio apartments is reviewing journals, at least two journals each night. This habit led me to pass the UNS GC selection to Norway. We must also have great capability, we must be persevering and diligent when we have a dream,” said Afrizal.
Besides Hemas and Afrizal, Aini Nurjanah who was a UNS GC Awardee to Gifu University also shares her experience. Aini who had attended a Visiting Research in Gifu University, Japan, recounts that she had failed in EAP. However, with the opportunity given to improve herself, Aini managed to fix her failure and now she managed to receive two scholarships after graduating from UNS.
“I often fail, I failed in the EAP test, but I kept on trying. In fact, I was also in a dilemmatic position, between completing my thesis and the opportunity to attend a program abroad, I decided that I must be able to do and complete both. In the end, I managed to attend the Visiting Research at Gifu University Japan as well as obtaining two scholarships for my future study,” she said.
From a number of inspirational stories that have been told by the GC UNS Awardee, more can be read fully through the e-book titled “50 Global Challengers”. Humas UNS/Yefta
