Two students of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMT) succeeded in becoming members of International Association of Students in Agriculture and Related Sciences (IAAS). The students were Maki Lukmanul Hakim and Annisa Rahma Fatika from Department of Agrotechnology of UMY. They were selected as the members at the National Congress conducted at University of Brawijaya on 26-29 January 2019, and beat other candidates from nine universities, namely Institut Pertanian Bogor (IPB), Universitas Padjajaran, Universitas Brawijaya, Universitas Diponegoro, Universitas Gajah Mada, Univesitas Sebelas Maret, Unversitas Lambung Makurat, Universitas Mataram, Universitas Udayana, and Universitas Negeri Jember.

“This becomes a history for UMY because we were the only students from a private university and a Muhammadiyah university to get this recognition. This also marked us to be the very first students from a Muhammadiyah university successfully becoming members of international organization as the IAAS. Before being the official delegates, we firstly submitted some documents. Of 9 universities applying for the IAAS Indonesia, only three universities were selected, namely University of Udayana University, Universitas Negeri Jember, and Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta,” explained Maki in an interview on Tuesday (14/2).

He inserted that the selection process to be the members was quite long. “We prepared it for a year. After we handed in documents, we had an online and face-to-face interview with eight IAAS members and one national committee and association. In spite the fact that we are from a private university, we convinced the interviewers that we deserve to be part of the IAAS Indonesia, we have good human resources and good environment. We also offered our agricultural programs,” uttered Maki.