Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) welcomed a visit of Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta on Wednesday (4/10) at Rectorate Room of A.R. Fachruddin A. The visit aimed to discuss the MoU between both parties which will end in November.

Rector of UIN Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Prof. Dr. Dede Rosayada, M.A. stated that UIN expected the MoU is more than just a formality and can be embodied in programs. “A MoU without implementation is nonsense,” he declared.

Dede also stated his views on the cooperation between Faculty of Medicine of UMY and UIN Syarif Hidayatullah in terms of research collaboration conducted due to the declining of research interests in a medical field. “This research collaboration is intended to encourage researchers to discover something new and the cooperation in terms of a student and staff exchange will be carried out,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rector of UMY Dr. Ir. Gunawan, M.P. informed that UMY has been cooperating with many Indonesian and foreign universities, and is now running the programs. “UMY has been sending the students to have an exchange in foreign universities such as a Taiwanese university. On 19-24 October, I will go to Taiwan to follow up the cooperation,” he maintained.

Gunawan also agreed to have the research collaboration, especially in a medical field. UMY itself published only seven international journals indexed by Scopus and will attempt to enhance the quality and quantity. Indeed, research in the medical field is now concerning with a treatment method without depending on medicine.

Rector of UMY expected that both parties can always collaborate. “I wish that this cooperation could be applied in various programs, and it could become cooperation not only between a faculty and faculty but also between a university and university,” ended Gunawan.