UNS – Good news came from the Postgraduate Program Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta. The Master Program (S-2) on Public Health Science gains excellent predicate (Accredited A) from Indonesian Independent Accreditation Institution for Medical Higher Education (Lembaga Akreditasi Mandiri Pendidikan Tinggi Kesehatan Indonesia – LAM-PTKes). The result was announced through the Decision Letter from LAM-PTKes Number 0173/LAM-PTKes/Akr/Mag/IV/2020. The accreditation status is valid for five years from 24 April 2020 to 24 April 2025.
The head of the Master Program on Public Health Science, Prof. Bhisma Murti claimed to be happy with this achievement even though the program is considerably young. Established in 2013, the Master Program on Public Health Science has graduated more than 500 students.
“This achievement is very excellent, I think accredited A will contribute in creating an opportunity for all programs in UNS to be accredited A. for graduates and students, (this accreditation) will bring pride to the education institution, that has been or being taken when it achieves excellent predicate. In 2015 we could get an A accreditation, but (at that time) we have not graduated any students, therefore it is stopped at a B accreditation,” explained Prof. Bhisma to uns.ac.id on Thursday (7/5/2020).
This achievement cannot be separated from the role of the entire academic community at the program, postgraduate, and university level. Prof. Bhisma highly appreciates hard works from all the academic communities.
“My gratitude to all parties who have a role in achieving this accreditation, thanks to our hard works and efforts, our program now has an excellent accreditation,” he added.
In the visitation process conducted in three days by LAM-PTKes on 5-7 March 2020, there are 7 indicators/standards to determine the accreditation of a program. The vision, missions, objective, target, and strategy, governance, leadership, management system, quality assurance, students and graduates, facilities and infrastructure, and information system, research, community engagement, and partnership are among the standards.
One of the steps or strategies taken to achieve the predicate is to strive for the vision and mission of the program to be realized. Prof. Bhisma stated that the actions taken by the Master Program on Public Health Science are among others, conducting an international level conference, workshop, seminars regularly, and manage the international journal.
“Every semester we conducted an international conference, usually we invited seven speakers from at least five countries. Besides, we also manage five international open access journals. We will improve the quality of these journals continuously because these journals are open access, we also enter DOAJ Google Scholar, Research Gate, Index Copernicus, and others,” he explained.
Even though the program is accredited with A, Prof. Bhisma does not want to be complacent with the achievement. He is determined to continue to improve the quality of education and curriculum so that the predicate does not stop as a title but is also accompanied by excellent achievements.
“This is good momentum, I hope that it does not stop at an A predicate, but the vision mission and the implementation of curriculum and learning must be good. We will continue to strive and committed to fix and improve every aspect,” added Prof. Bhisma.
The learning process that will be implemented in the future will involve a student’s active role. Currently, the students of the Master Program on Public Health Science joined online courses through apps such as Google Classroom.
“For each course, we provide 15-20 eBooks, then students have to solve the problem on the question provided based on the eBook, thus the learning is centered at the students. After the pandemic is over, we will utilize digital media as a complement. For example, to clarify the concepts or if there are matters that need a consultation,” revealed Prof. Bhisma.
Through this achievement, hopefully, it will improve and strengthen the education quality in UNS. “The future target is our program to be accredited at the international level,” closed Prof. Bhisma. Humas UNS/Bayu
