A university is not only a formal educational institution that provides teaching in class. It must also help develop soft skills gained from non-formal education outside the classroom. For this reason, Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) routinely holds Student Achievement Elections (Pilmapres) every year to find bright ideas from students.

The Head of UMY’s Student and Alumni Development Institute (LPKA), Faris Al-Fadhat, Ph.D., stated that becoming an outstanding student isn’t a short term process. It takes a long time to hone skills.

“Finding ideal students will be very difficult, but we have learned one thing. Becoming an outstanding student is not instant. Not in one month or just by one presentation at the race,” he said while giving a speech at the Grand Final for Outstanding Students, Saturday (22/2) in the Amphitheater Room of K.H. Ibrahim Building UMY.

This competition was attended by students from various Study Programs. All study programs sent 3 or 4 representatives. After they participated in the selection process, 15 people were selected to take part in the final round.

In the final round, all participants were asked to present their ideas in front of three judges. Various ideas and solutions were presented by all participants, starting from environmental, climate, health, social, political and legal issues.

Faris also stated that everyone has different advantages, both academic and non-academic. But what is most important is the consistency of each person to continue to hone skills that will be useful later. For Pilmapres participants, they must master various things that are the main requirements for joining this competition.

“We really appreciate the process you have done. You were asked to be active in organizations, have high GPA, and to have creativity. This means that you were asked to be potential leaders,” he added.

The winners of this competition are as follows. The first place winner was M. Fawwaz Syafiq Rizqullah from the Department of International Relations, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. The second winner was Ganjar Primambudi from the Economic Sciences Study Program, Faculty of Economics and Business. Third place was Delila Putri Sadayi of the Government Science Study Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences. The category of Best Paper goes to Afifatul Khoirunnisa from the Agrotechnology Study Program, Faculty of Agriculture. Best Presenter was given to Sibakhul Milad Malik H. of the English Education Department, Faculty of Language Education, as well as Khansa Adzima Medical of the Education Study Program, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences.

These champions will advance to the regional level and compete with participants from other tertiary institutions under the auspices of the Coordinator of Private Universities (Kopertis) and will be given the right to advance to the national level if they succeed in being the best at the Kopertis level. (ak)