[Kanal Media Unpad] Universitas Padjadjaran held the Merdeka Belajar-Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) 4.0 Festival at Bale Santika Parking Lot, Jatinangor, on Wednesday (7/9/2022) and Thursday (8/9/2022). The event was held to increase Unpad students’ participation in the MBKM program.
The program itself was first proposed by Indonesia’s Ministry of Education and Culture, aiming to prepare university students with a career-oriented curriculum and using “Freedom to Learn” as the main principle.
“Hopefully, the number of participants in Unpad’s MBKM program will increase this year,” said Dr. Risna Resnawaty, M.P. who is both the Chair of the MBKM 4.0 Festival and Unpad’s Head of the Alumni Partnership Office.
Risna stated that the festival is routinely held every semester at Unpad. Unpad itself has been incredibly active in executing numerous flagship programs from MBKM.
“This is a welcoming for students after their time spent learning at home. We are now back at campus with talk shows and interesting projects,” said Risna.
After the official opening by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Arief Sjamsulaksan Kartasasmita, the MBKM Festival kicked off with a number of talk shows and Kampus Merdeka program offers delivered by various speakers.
On the first day, students received materials on Magang dan Studi Independen Bersertifikat (MSIB), one of the programs in MBKM focusing on internships and independent studies, with the Head of the MSIB Program, Haryo Kusuma Wibawa, ST., CPC as the speaker.
Students are also given insights on MBKM Membangun Desa, a program dedicated to the development of rural communities, with Telkom University’s Director of Career, Alumni, and Endowment Development, Ir. Ahmad Tri Hanuranto, M.T., as the speaker.
On the second day, the MBKM Festival presented materials on entrepreneurship and research materials with Oorange Unpad and Prof. Nasrul Wathoni from Unpad as the speakers, respectively. The festival also held a discussion with SEAMEO BIOTROP.
Additionally, the festival presented materials on MBKM Proyek Kemanusiaan, a program focusing on social and humanitarian work, inviting a representative from the Patriot Desa SPPMD of West Java as the speaker, as well as materials on Teaching Assistantship with Unpad’s Ir. Febrianto Christi, MS. IPM. providing more insights on the topic.
The festival also had various information and culinary stands, complete with musical performances to liven up the event. With such a festive atmosphere, the committee wished to attract more students to participate.
“We hope that students may receive a lot of information so that they can participate in the MBKM program. With MBKM, surely they will be able to develop their skills and knowledge,” said Risna.
The Symbolic Release of Students Participating in the MSIB Program
On the first day of the MBKM 4.0 Festival, students participating in the Magang dan Studi Independen Bersertifikat (MSIB) program were symbolically released to begin their respective programs. The ceremony was done by the Vice-Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, Prof. Arief Sjamsulaksan Kartasasmita.
In this period, 699 Unpad students have been chosen to take part in the MSIB program at 163 partnering institutes.
In his opening speech, Prof. Arief stated that this program will bring many benefits to the students. He also hopes the chosen students will make use of these benefits the best that they can.
“This is an incredible program. If it is not put to good use, this valuable chance will be in vain,” said Prof. Arief.
Dr. Rosaria Mita Amalia, M.Hum., Unpad’s Head of the Career Development Center, stated that the participants who have passed the program’s selection process should execute their internships at their respective companies by integrating a balanced combination of hard skills and soft skills, in accordance with the projects that the company has prepared for them.
Students will be mentored by professionals in the industry as well as their internship supervisor, usually one of the professors teaching in the relevant study program.
“Good communication between the mentors, students, and supervisors will facilitate the study programs in determining the suitability of the internship program with the Course Learning Outcomes. This is in relation to the conversion of credit-hours from this program’s activities,” said Dr. Rosaria, who is also affectionately referred to as Dr. Amel.
Dr. Amel continued by saying that this round of internships is mostly done on-site while the rest of them are hybrid. As for independent studies, the students will put more focus on transferring their knowledge to a certain field, mainly the field of information technology.
“Students can always discuss their projects with their mentors online. Independent studies are also done online and students are provided supervisors, who are also the professors from their study programs, to facilitate communications regarding the conversion of this program’s activities to credit-hours,” said Dr. Amel. (mnr)*
