Udayana University Holds Independent Campus Learning Festival

Denpasar - Udayana University (Unud) held the 2023 Independent Campus Learning Festival in the Nusantara Room, Agrokompleks Building, Sudirman Campus, Denpasar, Wednesday (27/9/2023). This activity, which was opened directly by the Rector of Udayana University, was attended by the Vice Rectors, Chair of the Senate, Head of BKM, Institutional Leaders, Faculty and Postgraduate Leaders, students participating in MBKM and other invitees.

Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) is a strategic policy of the government of the Republic of Indonesia in the field of education which aims to increase the relevance and quality of graduates so that they are better prepared to enter the world of work and become leaders in the future. Udayana University is committed to running the MBKM program by actively participating in the Ministry of Education and Culture's MBKM Flagship program, becoming an Implementing Higher Education Institution (PTP) for the Ministry of Education and Culture's MBKM program and organizing Independent MBKM programs.

Unud MBKM Coordinator Dr. I Ketut Sardiana in his speech said that the MBKM festival was an event to introduce various MBKM programs to the Unud Academic Community, with the hope of sparking student interest in participating in the MBKM program so that the number of MBKM participants would increase. There are four agendas for this festival, namely (1) Release of students participating in the current semester's MBKM, (2) Talkshow or seminar introducing various MBKM programs, both flagship programs and independent programs, (3) Expo of the MBKM program by MSIB partners through booths held provided by the committee, and (4) Sharing experiences of participating in the MBKM program from previous year MBKM alumni.

Through this opportunity, the Unud MBKM Coordinator also reported that the number of Unud MBKM participants showed a significant increase every year, starting from 882 people in 2021, increasing to 3,186 people in 2022, and from 2023 to September reaching 4,989 people, with details of 2077 in the even semester, and 2,912 in odd semesters, including 186 inbound students. This increase was mainly contributed by student graduation in the MSIB Flagship program which increased almost twice from the previous period.

"Of the 2,912, 1,106 are the Ministry of Education and Research and Technology's flagship programs, 1,214 are independent internships, 186 are Village Development & PPK Ormawa, 70 are Research, 56 are Entrepreneurial Activities, 52 are Humanitarian Projects, and 42 are KKN-T. There are many benefits to be gained by participating in this program, "In addition to learning or working experience in industry and the world of work, it also increases competence according to the student's talents, guaranteed recognition of 20 credits, incentives or scholarships, etc.," said Dr. Sardiana.

Meanwhile, the Rector of Unud, Prof. I Nyoman Gde Antara said that Udayana University, as a university with PTN-BLU status, is committed to implementing the MBKM policy. To ensure that the MBKM policy can run well, the university has prepared various support systems to encourage and facilitate students to take part in the MBKM program by organizing interesting activities and developing an independent MBKM program as an implementation of the MBKM program. With the various supports and facilities provided, we hope that the spirit of MBKM and the number of MBKM participants will continue to increase from year to year.

MBKM not only encourages students to master various knowledge and skills from experts as preparation for entering the world of work, but also provides various benefits for students who take part.

"I advise the students participating in MBKM to prepare themselves and be able to try to carry out this one semester program as well as possible. Because of course during the learning process there are various problems and challenges," said Prof. Antara.

In the talk show, there were resource persons from the Ministry of Education and Culture, namely Dyah Ayu Yuli Murniati (Supervisor Institutional Relations PMM3) and Risza Putri Elburdah (Specialist University and Student Engagement Program MSIB) as well as Head of the PMM Program and 2023 Teaching Campus Asri Aldila Putri, S.Sos., M .Si.