Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogayakarta (UMY) signed the other agreement with a foreign institution, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain, as an effort to be an international reputable university. Agreed in Santiago on Monday (19/3), the cooperation will encompass student mobility, staff mobility, international seminars, and university development.

Rector of UMY Dr. Ir. Gunawan Budiyanto, M.P. told that UMY will always commit to be a ‘Muda Mendunia’ university and to broaden its collaboration with domestic and foreign educational institutions. “When visiting Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, we learned a lot such as the courses, student activities, roles of the university in the development of the state’s industries. Universidade de Santiago de Compostela is a leading university possessing food management technology and interestingly becoming a partner of various industries. Thus, their inventions are always welcomed by industry parties. If Spain industries get problems, the university will assist them to discover the solutions,” stated Gunawan in an interview on Friday (23/3) at a rector’s meeting room.

Gunawan also informed that Universidade de Santiago de Compostel is an incredibly tangible link and match. “The collaboration between universities and industries is significant. They can discuss food managements such as flavors, packages, food quality checking, food security, and target markets. All industrial products should be supervised by the university parties. This circumstance is rarely noticed in Indonesia that education and industries run independently,” he emphasized.

Gunawan added, after visiting the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, UMY will attempt to collaborate with industrial parties. “We will talk to them about the implementation employed by the industries, how they develop, and curriculum entailed. Industrial parties have been declaring that graduates do not meet demands of industries and alternatively are provided with workshops. Hence, UMY will concern with the enhancement of the curriculum quality in line with the industrial need,” he maintained.

Additionally, UMY also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Universiti Teknologi Mara Malaysia (UiTM) on Friday (23/3) at the rector’s meeting room of UMY. This cooperation will focus on student and staff mobility, academic programs, research, and community service.