Jakarta – On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, the Ministry of Education Culture Research and Technology held the Merdeka Campus Festival which was broadcasted live via Kemdikbud RI YouTube channel. This event aims to communicate the policy of a Merdeka Campus to the public by inviting all stakeholders, students, lecturers, rectors, and industry to actively participate in the implementation of the Merdeka Campus policy. This event was hosted by Caesar Gunawan and Mayfree Shari as MC. Merdeka Campus is an implementation of the vision and mission of the President of the Republic of Indonesia to create superior Indonesian human resources, by ensuring all university graduates get real experience that is relevant to future needs. It takes the involvement of all parties to make this happen. Therefore, The Merdeka Campus Talks with President of the Republic of Indonesia and Mendikbudristek were held invited Students, Chancellors, and Industry, which also opened the series of events for the Merdeka Campus Festival.

President Joko Widodo in the session of Merdeka Campus Talks

The Merdeka Campus Talks was attended by Mr. President Joko Widodo, Mr. Prof. Arif Satria as Chancellor of IPB and Chair of the Indonesian Chancellor Forum, Mr. Ririek Adriansyah as President Director of Telkom, Mr. William Tanuwijaya as President Director and Co-Founder of Tokopedia, Ayu Sabrina as a student representative of the Teaching Campus from Diponegoro University, Christian as a participant of the Bangkit program from Brawijaya University , and Tesa Saraswati as the recipient of the LPDP Master’s Degree scholarship and Yale University alumni. The guests shared their opinions, experiences, and hopes regarding the Merdeka Campus program. On this occasion, the President expressed his hope for future university graduates. “Our graduates must have strong dedication, tolerance for diversity, always update knowledge, be innovative, be able to become problem solvers, master the latest science and technology and be able to create jobs,” he insisted. The President also invited all parties to participate in collaborating to build a developed Indonesia.

Mr. Nadiem Makarim shared information about Merdeka Campus

The event continued with the explanation of the Minister of Education Culture Research and Technology, Mr. Nadiem Makarim, about the Merdeka Campus. Merdeka Campus provides an opportunity for students to seek real-world experiences. Students can study outside their study program for 3 semesters, with 2 semesters being conducted off campus. These learning activities can take the form of internships, student exchanges, research and five other types of activities. He also explained about 4 excellent programs in 2021, namely Internship and Independent Studies, IISMA, Independent Student Exchange, and Teaching Campus. This opportunity is open to all PTN and PTS students throughout Indonesia, there is a guarantee of 20 credits and is funded by LPDP. Students can register through the website Kampusmerdeka.kemdikbud.go.id

The Academic Discussion Panel

Good Practice Sharing Sessions about Merdeka Campus with students representatives

The series of Merdeka Campus Festivals was continued with a Discussion Panel with experienced speakers in their fields which was divided into four sessions. The Academics Panel with the theme The Development of Indonesian Education in the Modern Era. Speakers on this panel are Mr. Gita Wirjawan as Educator and Entrepreneur, Mr. Emil Dardak as Deputy Governor of East Java, and Mrs. Saur Marlina Manurung as Director of the Sokola Institute. The Social Panel with the theme Growing a Social Spirit to Build the Nation, with two speakers, namely Nur Agis Aulia – Agropreneur & Activist and Tiza Mafira – Executive Director of the Indonesian Plastic Bag Diet Movement. The Technology Panel with the theme Technological Innovation by the Children of the Nation. This discussion was held with Alamanda Shantika Santoso as Founder of Binar Academy, Sharlini Eriza Putri as Founder of Nusantics and Pamitre Wineka as CEO & CO-Founder of TaniHub Group. The Creative Panel with the theme of Maintaining Creativity in the Creative Industry. This panel invited Raditya Dika – Writer, Actor, Comedian, and Yoris Sebastian – Creativepreneur.

Mr. Wikan Sakarinto, the Director General of Vocational Education

Mr. Nizam, the Director General of Higher Education gave clossing remarks

On the sidelines of the discussion panel, there were a series of other Merdeka Campus Festival events, namely Good Practice Sharing Sessions and Pitching Arena with 5 Industries. Good practice sharing sessions were held with students and lecturers who attended the independent campus. The pitching arena session was attended by five industries including Huawei, BI Institute, TaniHub, UNDP Indonesia, and Microsoft. The Merdeka Campus Festival was also enlivened by the appearance of Lyodra and Project Pop. The festival ended with speeches from Mr. Wikan Sakarinto as the Director General of Vocational Education and Mr. Nizam as the Director General of Higher Education.

 

Article by: Hani & Carie