Several President University (Presuniv) students again had the opportunity to take part in lecture activities abroad through the Indonesia International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) 2023 program organized by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Research, and Technology, Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia. All these students will attend lectures at various leading campuses in Australia, Europe, and the United States (US).
In Australia, for example, there is Richard Saint Wu from the Management Study Program class of 2021 who will take part in the IISMA program at Monash University. Then, there is Vianka Lintang Nirmala from the Accounting Study Program class of 2020, who will go to the University of Adelaide, and Kelly Cen from the Business Administration Study Program class of 2021, who will go to the University of Melbourne. These three study programs are under the auspices of the Faculty of Business.
Still from the Faculty of Business, four students who are taking the IISMA program in Europe. They are Jason Nathanael from the Actuarial Study Program class of 2020, who will go to the University of Padua, Italy, and Kevin Saputra Gome Wijaya, class of 2021, who will study at the Grenoble Ecole de Management, France. Nesya Elmaira and Yolanda Anta Rizkia Wicaksono, both from the Management Study Program class of 2021, will take part in the IISMA program in Russia and England.
Then, there is Daniel Rinaldi Frederick Ismael, Visual Communication Design Study Program class of 2020 from the Faculty of Computer, who will study at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Still from the Faculty of Computers, there is Rayhan Rifqi Aldinovandi from the Information Technology (IT) Study Program class of 2021, who will be undergoing the IISMA program at Michigan State University, US.
One more student is Beatrice Deviana. He is from the International Relations Study Program class of 2021, Faculty of Humanities, and will be undergoing his IISMA program at Radboud University, The Netherlands.
The Rector of Presuniv Prof. Dr. Chairy felt proud of the success of the students participating in the IISMA program. Chairy said, "This success shows that Presuniv students can compete at the global level." He continued, "This also illustrates the quality of education at Presuniv, which prides itself in being an international university.
According to Chairy, there are many benefits that students can get when they have the opportunity to study abroad, such as through the IISMA program. "By studying abroad, students can expand their network in an international environment. While abroad, they will meet other students, lecturers, and the academic community from various countries in the world," said Chairy.
In addition, continued study abroad will also broaden the student’s horizons. They can learn knowledge from various cross-disciplines, including increasing knowledge and skills at a global level. "This is all in line with Presuniv's vision, which is to produce graduates who are superior, who have a multicultural mindset, and have a global outlook," he emphasized.
That's why, said Chairy, Presuniv really supports the aspirations of those students who want to study abroad. The experience of studying abroad, he said, will be a very valuable when students graduate and are ready to enter the world of work. "Their perspective will be wider. They will also be more tolerant, better able to understand cultural differences, and see these differences from a more positive perspective," said Chairy.
Strict Selection
The IISMA selection process is very strict. The competition among the candidates or awardee candidates was fierce. Beatrice Deviana, for example, admitted that she was nervous because she felt less active than the other candidates. However, after strengthening her determination and adding support from the International Office team at Presuniv, Beatrice finally passed the selection. "Support from Presuniv is very important, especially during registration. The International Office really helped me in taking care of all the IISMA documents," said Beatrice.
Rayhan felt the same way. Even though he can speak English, well enough to pass the IISMA selection, Rayhan admits that his fluency still needs to be improved. This is especially true for the interview session. "Through the mentoring program conducted by the International Office, I realized that my interviewing skills were still not satisfactory. That's why I keep learning and improving myself. I took part in several mock interview sessions. Thanks to this practice, I was able to get good grades and pass the IISMA selection," said Rayhan.
Agus Sofian Eka Hidayat, Director of the International Office, Presuniv, explained the mentoring process. "During the mentoring process, the IISMA 2023 awardee candidates received guidance from their seniors, namely from those who had already received IISMA 2022," said Eka, as he is usually called. "Mentoring from seniors is very helpful for awardee candidates because it contains a lot of insight and practical matters," said Eka.
Agus Sofian Eka Hidayat
There is a lot of information shared by seniors with all IISMA 2023 candidates. Among other things, various information regarding document preparation, administrative arrangements, various tests in English, strategies for choosing campuses abroad, essay writing, and tips and tricks to use during interviews
ISMA Benefits
For Presuniv students, it turned out that they used the IISMA program to broaden their horizons and knowledge. In fact, for knowledge outside the study program. For example, Beatrice, even though she is from the International Relations Study Program, actually wanted to learn about global health issues while attending IISMA.
Meanwhile, while at Michigan State University, Rayhan was very interested in exploring cross-disciplinary IT courses. He said, "I am actually interested in studying social issues. For this reason, while attending IISMA in the US, I will learn about Global Change, Criminology, Social Differentiation and Inequality, and Navigating Another Culture."
Rayhan admitted that he was very enthusiastic about participating in the IISMA program. He said he would really take advantage of this opportunity to broaden his horizons and realize his childhood dream. "Since childhood, I dreamed of studying abroad, especially in the US. Having IISMA motivated me to make this dream come true," said Rayhan. Now, Rayhan's dream has come true.
Apart from broadening her knowledge, Beatrice also used IISMA as a platform to introduce Indonesia's rich culture to the international community. "I want to introduce Indonesian traditional songs with jazz nuances. I am happy to be able to do that to an international audience," she said.
Eka hopes that the awardees will gain knowledge and experience, and explore positive things while abroad. "Through IISMA, I also hope they can make Presuniv proud abroad by becoming a good awardee at the university of their choice," said Eka. Upon returning from abroad, Eka continued, he hoped that the IISMA 2023 awardees would in turn be able to share their experiences with their younger classmates.
