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Delightful to be able to study at one of the greenest campuses in the world
Ahda Ayudia Hairisa is one of five President University (PresUniv) students who received scholarships through the International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) Program. IISMA is a program organized by the Directorate General of Higher Education (Ditjen Dikti), Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbud Ristek), which aims to provide rights and opportunities for students to carry out self-development activities outside their original campus.
Ahda, a student of the International Relations Study Program, PresUniv, had the opportunity to study for one semester at the University of Limerick (UL), Ireland. She was attracted to UL because she wanted to gain experience and knowledge with learning methods and systems in one of the greenest campuses in the world. Referring to the ranking issued by UI GreenMetric in 2020, UL is ranked the 17th best in the world in managing the campus environment.
According to Ahda, the IISMA program is a golden opportunity for students to develop their potential by studying subjects outside their majors and training their self-adaptation skills by studying at foreign universities. “I am inquisitive about the methods and learning systems there, which are certainly different from campuses in Indonesia. I can also learn to understand things from a new perspective through this program,” she said.
Ahda explained that while at UL, she was required to take five courses equivalent to 20 credits. The types of courses offered are also very diverse because they come from various study programs. The five courses that Ahda chooses are Intro to Journalism, Psychology and Everyday Life, Psychology of the Personality, Sociology of Gender, and Global Citizenship. All of these courses are very different from International Relations Study Program
Ahda said, “The main courses I take are journalism and psychology. I chose these two courses because they are related to my current major, but from two different sides.” According to her, learning journalism will make it easier for her to process information and data from research results to be easily understood by others and worthy of sharing. Meanwhile, the psychology will help her develop intrapersonal and interpersonal skills in daily activities and will also be helpful in the world of work later.
She emphasized that applicants must prepare the necessary files in advance to take part in a scholarship or student exchange program. For example, an English proficiency test file that takes time to process. Ahda also suggested looking for comrades in arms in the program so that if there is new information, they can share, remind and support each other.
The next tip is how to process an essay from the questions given. Ahda revealed, usually, the committee will provide several questions that must be answered in the form of an essay with a limited number of words. “The essay must be straight to the point. Do not beat around the bush. The key is to be brief, but it must be captivating,” she concluded. (Gilang Suryanata, PR team. Photo: Ahda Ayudia Hairisa)
