Two research papers of Economics students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) passed in the 14th Islamic Economics and Finance Research Forum (FREKS XIV). It was organized by the Financial Service Authority (OJK), Ministry of Finance, Indonesia Islamic Economics Association, and Universitas IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang. The papers will be presented on 10 June 2016 at Universitas IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang with the 10 other passed papers.
“The research forum is divided into two categories, ‘muda’ (for undergraduate and graduate students) and ‘madya’ (for experts and practitioners). Each category comprises six finalists across Indonesia. UMY possesses representatives of each category,” stated M. Akhyar Adnan, Ph.D., MBA., Ak., CA, an Accounting lecturer of UMY as well as a supervisor of a ‘madya’ finalist, in an interview at Public Relations and Protocol Office on Wednesday (8/6).
They were Fadhilah Raqiah Azis, an accounting student of batch 2012, and Akhyar Adnan as the supervisor for the madya category; and Siham Madihah, Ega Wiguna, and M. Azizurrohman who are Economics students of batch 2014 for the muda category. “Fadhilla will compete with lecturers of the madya category. She may be the youngest. She can be included in the category because she and I, as an Accounting lecturer, are in a team,” Akhyar told. He conveyed that the FREKS is an effort of Economics Faculty to enhance students’ capability in academic and non-academic fields.
The FREKS engaged academicians and researchers of higher education, research institutions, and Islamic banking across Indonesia. UMY was the only one university in Yogyakarta passing the competition. “There were 151 submitted papers, and only 12 papers were selected to be the finalists. They were from University of Indonesia (UI), SSekolah Tinggi Ekonomi Islam Tazkia Bogor, UIN Jakarta, Smart Consulting, Universitas Padjajaran, and STAIN Pekalongan. The papers were assessed based on the innovative notion, topic appropriateness, research quality, methods, and references,” mentioned Akhyar who is also the Head of Islamic Economics Development Center of Economics Faculty of UMY.
He asserted that the theme of the FREKS was ‘Islamic Non-Banking Finance Industry (IKNB)’ encompassing Islamic Insurance, Islamic Financing, Islamic Pawnshop, Islamic Guarantee, Islamic Venture Capital, Islamic Pension Fund, and Islamic Microfinance Institutions.
Fadhilah and Akhyar Adnan will present their research entitled ‘Factors influencing conventional insurance companies open Islamic units’. That Islamic insurances have fostered twice more rapid than Islamic banking development underlay the research, while government would focus on Islamic banking rather than concern with Islamic insurances.
Besides, Siham argued that research on Islamic Venture Capital has rarely been conducted so that he and his friends attempted to research ‘Blue Investment Integration of Islamic Venture Capital and Ecotourism Minapolity to Empowering the Economy of Coastal Community’. The research was undertaken for year in Pandansari beach that people and tourists are not familiar with.
“There are a lot of resources that can be utilized and evolved by government to empower coastal community. Therefore, my team tried to use Islamic venture capital to foster the community economy.
They wished that their research could be valuable for the community, could motivate others to gain achievements, and could enhance competitiveness among universities, particularly in developing Islamic economy.
