UNS — The Vice-Rector for Academic Affairs of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta, Prof. Ahmad Yunus, discussed the key points in Kampus Merdeka (Independent Campus) Program in the Impact Circle webinar on the topic of “Build Yourself Through Kampus Merdeka” held by AIESEC in UNS online through Zoom Cloud Meeting.
Kampus Merdeka Program promoted by the Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) RI, Nadiem Makarim on January 2020, according to Prof. Ahmad Yunus, provides many benefits and flexibility for both higher education and students. This includes the open opportunity to open a new program, higher education accreditation system, establishment of higher education with legal entity (PTN BH), and opportunity for students to learn outside their program for three semesters. From these benefits, UNS as an educational institution also received certain benefits because on 6 October 2020, President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi) has signed Governmental Decree (PP) Number 56 of 2020 concerning UNS PTN BH.
This new status brought autonomy in the management of academic and non-academic matters for UNS. This has a positive impact on UNS because currently, UNS can open a new program without having to ask permission from the Kemendikbud. This policy, according to Prof. Yunus, must have been directed by Nadiem Makarim to prepare Human Resources for industry 4.0 and society 5.0 era. Prof. Yunus also explained that there are 8 Key Performance Indicators (Indikator Kinerja Utama – IKU) determined by Kemendikbud, such as percentage of graduates in the last year who have worked for 0-6 months with income above IDR 1.2 million, continue their study, and/or become an entrepreneur.
“Other indicators such as the percentage of permanent lecturers who implement higher education Tridharma in other campuses, collaborates with QS5000, and/or work as a practitioner at least for 6 months in the last 5 years. And, the percentage of programs that have international accreditation and/or certification recognized by the government,” Prof. Yunus explained on Wednesday (28/10/2020).
In front of webinar participants, Prof. Yunus mentioned several benefits of Kampus Merdeka program for students. First, the opportunity to participate in inter-program or inter-university students exchange, internship or teaching assistance according to student’s field of study in an educational institution outside of their campus or in the scope of tiered education. Students also have the opportunity to participate in research, humanitarian project, entrepreneurship, independent study, and village development or thematic Community Service Program (KKN Tematik). “Student can also perform a demonstration of research and KKN at once,” Prof. Yunus added. He continued with the example of KKN Tematik which can be recognized as an elective course, for example, a KKN program on the improvement of community welfare through the synergy of housewife organization (PKK) and village business (BumDes) to market dairy products which can be recognized as Animal Product Development with 2 credits and Dairy Livestock Science with 2 credits. However, to perform such recognition, a program needs to have a recognition team, information system support, list of courses that can be taken outside of the program, and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with partner institutions. Humas UNS
Reporter: Yefta Christopherus AS
Editor: Dwi Hastuti
