International Relations and Cooperation Office of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) collaborating with academicians of University of Gadjah Mada (UGM) and University of Indonesia (UI) organized a seminar of joint degree program. It was conducted on Saturday (24/10) in A.R. Facruddin A, Floor 5. Both academicians acting as speakers were Prof. Dr. Basu Swastha Dharmmersta, MBA from MM UGM and Junaidi, M.A. from UI. IRO of UMY also invited Head of Sub-Directorate (Kasubdit) of Cooperation among Institution, Directorate General of Higher Education (DIKTI), Purwanto Subroto, Ph.D. Representatives of faculties, departments, and directors of international programs also attended the seminar.
Prof. Basu informed that joint degree refers to taking different study programs at two or more educational institutions, for instance joint degree of Harvard Business School and Harvard Law School. “Students joining the joint program will achieved J.D. (Juris Doctor) or MBA (Master in Business Administration).
Prof. Basu mentioned the requirements of the joint degree program at Harvard Law School (HLS) and Harvard Business School (HBS). “First, students have to possess Letter of Acceptance (LoA) from each university. Second, the study should have been accomplished for 4 years maximally. In the first year, students have to take courses at HLS or HSB and study at one of them in the next year. Students will study at both universities in the third and forth year,” he maintained.
Moreover, an internationalization speaker of Indonesia Higher Education, Directorate of Institution Training, Kementistekdikti, Junaidi, M.A. stated that higher education is now confronting an issue on how they can contribute to the world like coping with poverty and environment. “Students ought to comprehend the issues. Since in this year we will face ASEAN Economic Community, students of the joint degree program can contribute to build the existing potential,” he expected.
Junaidi inserted that 6,500 institutions and 12 million students in ASEAN will bring positive impacts if they can collaborate in the joint program. For one reason, higher education has essential roles in economic growth. “Student collaboration in the joint program will foster competition in each institution. It will also bring good impacts on social field like demographic change, technology, economy, environment, and leadership of the institution.
Implementation of joint degree program is the steppingstone of achieving international class. Junaidi conveyed that internationalization is one of the ways to reinforce educational and research development, and to foster the university quality. “The international program is recruiting students who pay and later it will elevate university income. The internationalization engage in all institutions, staffs, students, and any instruments like mobility, curriculum development, and university internationalization itself,” he maintained.
Furthermore, Purwanto Subroto, Ph.D. asserted that joint degree program aims at evolving educational quality of higher education. Therefore, each institution must discuss and build cooperation revealing Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Purwanto added that university development could be carried out through cooperation between an institution and the international students so that there will be valuable information. “Cooperation extension can be undertaken by promoting higher education and attracting prospective foreign students to study in Indonesia through conducting Indonesia Higher Education Expo (IHEE) since 2012,” he ended.
