UNS — The Technical Implementation Unit (UPT) for International Cooperation and Services (International Office), Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, held a Webinar in Intercultural Communication Strategy to support the development of the UNS international student service system. This webinar aims to provide insight and improve UNS academic support staff competencies in providing academic and non-academic services to international students.
The number of international students enrolled at a university contributes 5% in the assessment indicators of the QS World University Ranking. As one of the universities included in the First National Cluster, UNS is mandated to achieve World Class University predicate, which can be achieved through the QS benchmarks.
During the workshop on Thursday (28/10/2021), the Head of the UNS International Office, Rino Ardhian N., Ph.D., said that international students enrolled at UNS show a significant increase. “Registration for the 2020 academic year recorded a total of 105 applicants. However, the number is decreased in 2021 to 52 applicants because of the pandemic period, while the 2022 academic year increased to 241 applicants from 41 countries. This situation will be a challenge for the academic support staff to provide the best services for international students,” he said in his speech.
The first session of this workshop invites Marieti Debyora Gardiana, S.Si., as the Sub Coordinator of Administration for the UNS International Office. Gardiana presented her research on intercultural communication strategies for the development of the UNS international student service system. The research was conducted using non-APBN funding through the UNS Research and Community Service (P2M) program managed by the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM) UNS.
“The idea for this research started from a discussion with Mr. Sulistiyo Joko Wahyudi, ST., along with the other UNS International Office staff colleagues, regarding the challenges in intercultural communication and the strategies that have been implemented to overcome them,” explained Gardiana.
The research, whose team consisted of Rino Ardhian Nugroho, Ph.D., and Albert Muhammad Isrun Naini, Ph.D., was conducted through in-depth interviews with 12 International Affairs Office staff from 5 (five) universities.
The second session was a talk show with three invited speakers, namely, Abdul Rohman, S. Hum., a staff from Diponegoro University International Office; Anas Fauzi, S.Pd., a Staff for Foreign Cooperation in Universitas Negeri Semarang, and Erna Mustikasari, MIKom., the manager of the Student Development Partnership (KNB) scholarship for the UNS Graduate School.
Led by Sulistiyo Joko Wahyudi, ST., the invited speakers share practical tips and tricks in communicating with international students according to their respective experiences. The workshop was attended by approximately 115 participants and was concluded with the distribution of a book entitled ‘Be Curious and Act Globally’ by Yudi Sastroredjo. Humas UNS
Reporter: Bayu Aji Prasetya
Editor: Dwi Hastuti