The Independent Campus or Kampus Merdeka Program, organized by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, has been attended by more than 150 thousand students throughout Indonesia.
In one semester, students have the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the archipelago diversity in the Merdeka Student Exchange or Pertukaran Mahasiswa Merdeka (PMM) program, experience studying abroad in the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program, dedicate themselves to education in the Teaching Campus or Kampus Mengajar (KM) program, engage into the industrial world through the Certified Independent Internship and Study or Magang dan Studi Independen Bersertifikat (MSIB) program, interacting with experts in the Teaching Practitioner or Praktisi Mengajar (PM) program, and learning to build a business in the Independent Entrepreneurship program or Wirausaha Merdeka (WMK).
Based on the release of Kampus Merdeka Public Relations & Branding, all the interesting experiences, inspirational stories, and meaningful learning from the participants and alumni can now be shared on a platform called Cerita Kampus Merdeka, which the public can access on the website cerita.kampusmerdeka.kemdikbud. go.id.
“This website has been initiated in the last few months, specifically prepared to accommodate participants and alumni to be able to write down their good stories and interesting experiences,” said Aidil Putra Soeroto, Strategic Digital Manager of the Merdeka Campus Public Relations & Branding team at the Initial Launch of Cerita Kampus Merdeka pages at MyTen Coffee Jakarta, Tuesday (20/12/2022)
He explained that the Merdeka Campus program has been running for two years, and many participants and alumni have felt the positive impact of the programs they have participated in. “So, of course, they have various stories to tell, and we need to accommodate these stories,” Aidil added.
The initial launch event, held offline and broadcast live via the Merdeka Campus Youtube channel, was filled with two talk show sessions, Chat Together or Ngobar. The first Ngobar session invited a writer and founder of assumed.co, Pangeran Siahaan, to talk about the art of storytelling and creative writing. “Writing is not only for self-satisfaction, it can also affect other people. That’s why writing is so powerful,” he said.
Pangeran gave various tips on creative writing, for example, determining the theme and point of view, writing style, and choosing words. According to him, the ability to write will develop along with the increasing number of writings produced so that a writer can start from simple things.
The guest speaker in the second Ngobar session was Dita Aisyah, Co-Founder of Binar Academy, who is included in the Forbes Indonesia 30 under 30 list. She shared stories about her career-building journey. According to her, program participants and alumni can also become inspirational figures for other students by sharing their interesting stories.
“Everyone has their own way of writing, and that’s fine, there’s no particular way to follow. Don’t write for other people, and don’t write to please other people. Be yourself, and there your writing will be more meaningful,” said Dita.
Participants and alumni of the Merdeka Campus program can start uploading posts on this page by registering an account. At the time of registration, they will be asked to enter several personal data and upload supporting documents in the form of a certificate indicating that they have participated in one of the programs. The page manager will verify the registration, and then the registrant will receive a notification via email. (rls)
