Farewell Event of PMM Undiksha Students: Full of Stories, Means Forever

Farewell Event of PMM Undiksha Student: Full of Stories, Means Forever

Singaraja- After almost three months, the students of the Merdeka Student Exchange or Pertukaran Mahasiswa Merdeka (PMM) program batch II at Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) in 2022, following various lectures and other activities, on Friday (30/12/2022) students from various universities in Indonesia must separate and return to their respective universities. On this day, they were officially farewelled by Undiksha.

The event was centered at the Undiksha Auditorium. The event took place joyfully and lively, with cultural arts performances from each class of the Nusantara module.

On this occasion, the Rector of Undiksha was represented by the Head of the Academic, Student Affairs, Planning, and Cooperation Bureau, Drs. I Made Yasa, M.Pd. He gave his highest appreciation to all students from various universities in Indonesia who had chosen Undiksha as the destination campus for implementing the PMM program. The high student participation rate also led Undiksha to become the Most PMM Student Receiving College in 2022 and received an award from the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research and Technology (Diktiristek). In 2023, the implementation of PMM is expected to increase, both in quantity and quality.

One of the PMM students, Rico Ade Diyastama from Universitas Negeri Semarang, said he gained many new experiences while participating in this Kemdikbudristek program at Undiksha. The most important thing for him during the three months of participating in this program is that he can learn various courses outside his main study program. In addition, he was making new friends, and new ways of learning made it very memorable to join this program. “The most important thing at Undiksha is that I took a full cross-major of all 20 credits at Undiksha outside of my original study program of Informatics and Computer Engineering Education,” he explained.

This third semester student explained that, in addition to a very memorable learning experience, one thing that made an impression on his heart was learning how to tolerate each other. This is because students who participate in this program come from various regions in Indonesia with different religions, ethnicities, and races. According to him, tolerance must always be maintained to maintain diversity. “From there, I learned that we need to maintain tolerance to participate in this PMM program,” he explained.

Further conveyed, although he experienced difficulties in terms of mobility during the implementation of PMM at Undiksha, this did not reduce his enthusiasm and determination to participate in various programs in PMM.

Further conveyed, although he experienced difficulties in terms of mobility during the implementation of PMM at Undiksha, it did not reduce his enthusiasm and determination to participate in various programs in PMM.

Besides Rico, another student Reka Novintan Barus from Medan, also felt happy to be able to take part in the PMM program at Undiksha. She appreciated Undiksha for being willing to accept her and 300 students. For this student from Medan Open University, diversity is one of the most visible things in implementing PMM at Undiksha. She was also very impressed with the manners and hospitality of the people in Bali. “So manners and hospitality are highly upheld,” he explained.

The English Education student admitted that she was very sad to have to say goodbye to her friends from the PMM program and to the lecturers who had taught her during the program at Undiksha. However, he believes that the knowledge gained at the campus located in the North Bali stretch is beneficial. He also hopes all PMM students can become diversity ambassadors and always uphold tolerance. “For the younger generation, let’s uphold tolerance and maintain diversity so that it becomes one cohesive,” he hoped.

The impression expressed by this student representative is one sign that the PMM program tagline “Temporary Exchange, Forever Meaningful” is truly felt. (hms)