Singaraja- Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha) was the last location for the Kampus Merdeka Fair roadshow. This event was held on Wednesday (16/11/2022). This event was held to encourage quantity and quality improvement of Freedom to Learn-Independent Campus or Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) implementation and realize an independent MBKM program.
The opening ceremony was held at Undiksha Auditorium, followed by Heads, academic communities from various universities, vocational universities, industrial partners, and students. On this occasion, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, gave a welcoming speech online. He conveyed that the spirit of higher education transformation through the MBKM program still needs to be strengthened, and many aspects still need to be maximized.
On this occasion, he also expressed his appreciation to those working on the transformation of higher education through the MBKM policy for the last three years and voiced an invitation to continue this struggle. “That’s why we encourage the implementation of the independent MBKM program, where each university can design and implement the MBKM program according to their individual needs,” he said.
The acting official of the Director of Learning and Student Affairs, Sri Gunani Partiwi, who came to Undiksha, said that the MBKM programs had involved more than 700 thousand Indonesian students. Although it’s quite large, it’s only a small portion of all Indonesian students reaching 8 million people. The independent MBKM program is one of the solutions to expand opportunities for students to study outside the study program or university.
She also appreciated the university’s support as the organizer of the Kampus Merdeka Fair. She said that that event was a promotional space related to MBKM activities which are believed to build comprehensive competence of students before entering the work environment and create superior human resources who have creativity, independence, and can become Indonesia’s golden generation. “And at the Kampus Merdeka Fair, we also convey to younger students that this is a model, an effective way of learning to build superior human resources. “Hopefully, other universities can do the same or even better,” she said.
Meanwhile, the Head of the Kampus Merdeka Implementation Center, Gugup Kismono, said Undiksha was one of the pioneers of the Independent MBKM. This movement is expected to be followed by other universities. Student interest in participating in MBKM is always increasing with its various flexible programs. It is hoped that this will further increase.
The Rector of Undiksha, I Nyoman Jampel, stated that MBKM is an extraordinary program. This program is considered a strategy to create young Indonesians with superior competence and good soft skills and character. He hopes that this program can be implemented sustainably. “I’m a little worried about ministers change in the future, a change in policy and Kampus Merdeka. That’s something missing. Therefore, I promise that if I am trusted by several universities, I am ready to be their command to send letters anywhere and whoever leads this nation must continue this program,” he said.
To make the MBKM program successful, Undiksha also maximizes cooperation with other universities, the government, businesses, industries, and other stakeholders.
For information, the Kampus Merdeka Fair roadshow at Undiksha is the sixth location. The five previous hosts were Universitas Negeri Padang, Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta, Universitas Tanjungpura Pontianak, Politeknik Negeri Jakarta, and Politeknik Negeri Malang. (hms)
