In mid-November last year, a team from the Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia (FTUI) made a collaborative visit to several universities in Japan. This visit was carried out to develop cooperation with several educational and industrial partners. During this visit, the FTUI delegation was led by the Dean, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU, and accompanied by Prof. Dr. Ir. Harinaldi, M.Eng., Head of Education Modernization and Internationalization Unit, Dr. Eng. Muhammad Sahlan, Head of the Entrepreneurial Innovation Unit, and Dr. Eng. Arief Udhiarto, Head of the Electrical Engineering Department.
During this visit, FTUI visited three regions in Japan, namely Tokyo, Sendai, and Hamamatsu. In Tokyo, the FTUI delegation visited two universities, namely Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT), and visited Precision System Science, Co. Ltd. While in Sendai, the group visited Tohoku University and Hamamatsu visited Shizouka University and The University of Shizouka.
During the visit to the six universities and institutions, the FTUI delegation was welcomed by representatives from each university, namely Takayasu Omura (President JAPI), Professor Masafumi Yohda (TUAT), Professor Junichi Takada (Dean of TIT), Professor Kajiwara (Japan ASEAN Cooperation), Dr. Winarto (TIT), Professor Kitakawa (USPS Project at Tohoku University), Professor Obayashi (Tohoku University), Assc. Professor Aiko Yakeno (Tohoku University), Professor Hiroo Yugami (Dean of Tohoku University), Assc. Professor Nakazawa (Tohoku University), Hiroshi Miyaguchi (Research Associate Tohoku University), Professor Kazuhiro Hara (Shizuoka University), and Professor Kumazawa (Shizuoka Shiritsu).
During the visit to the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (TUAT) and the Tokyo Institute of Technology (TIT), several points of cooperation were produced which became an agreement between FTUI and the two universities.
“For FTUI and TUAT themselves, they already have an active MoU and its implementation is still a matter of student exchange (tuition waive scheme) with a limited quota of 5 students/year, then proposals are submitted from FTUI for study abroad (free umbrella scheme) from KKI FTUI students to TUAT without limits. quota. TUAT welcomes this, but with a note that at the undergraduate level, TUAT organizes around 5 general courses in English that international students can take part in,” said Prof. Heri.
Then, for the Tokyo Institute of Technology, there was an explanation and confirmation from Prof. Jun-ichi Takada regarding the critical evaluation of the implementation of student exchange and study abroad for KKI FTUI students in the last few years which led to the temporary termination of KKI FTUI student admissions. “Currently, a proposal has been submitted from FTUI to manage the implementation of study abroad activities (fee-paying scheme) from KKI FTUI students to TIT in a better and structured manner. TIT also welcomes and will discuss FTUI’s proposals in their leadership meeting,” said Prof. Harinaldi.
Not only visiting universities, but the FTUI delegates also visited an industrial partner in Japan, Precision System Science (PSS) Co., Ltd. Mitra Industri is an automatic DNA Extraction and PCR equipment company. In connection with the collaboration with FTUI, PSS will grant MagLEAD tools to FTUI starting in January 2023.
“MagLEAD is a tool focused on the halal testing process. This tool can extract nucleic acid (DNA) from any sample. FTUI plans to carry out tests from the existing food industry regarding the halalness of food and beverages, which will then be tested for the presence of pig DNA in these food and beverage products. The plan is for this tool to arrive at FTUI on January 16-18 2023,” said Dr. Sahlan.
During visits to Tohoku University, Shizouka University, and The University of Shizouka, several points of cooperation have been obtained.
“At Tohoku University there is potential for the development of international class collaboration programs for Single Degree and Double Degree. UI and Tohoku University already have an active MoU and its implementation is ongoing, activities such as student exchange (tuition waive scheme) with a limited quota of 5 students/year. We from FTUI have also submitted a proposal for a study abroad activity (fee-paying scheme) without a quota limit. This was welcomed by Tohoku University. In the future, this program will be available for international undergraduate-level programs in English, currently, it is only offered by the Mechanical Engineering program,” explained Dr. Eng. Arief Udhiarto.
During a visit to Shizouka University, FTUI proposed to cooperate with the Double Degree Program which was already running in the Doctoral program so that it could be expanded to include undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Shizuoka University itself encourages optimizing existing international education programs and collaboration in the research sector. Finally, for The University of Shizuoka, because this is a university owned by the Shizuoka regional government, and faculties that are compatible with FTUI, the only possible collaboration with the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences is with the Bioprocess Engineering Study Program.
Dean Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU, welcomed the various points of cooperation carried out by FTUI with several partners in Japan. “Regarding the various steps taken by FTUI in the effort to develop the internationalization of education, this is a good step. As a follow-up, of course, Modirpen/Office of IO-FTUI will immediately coordinate with IO counterparts at each partner university to agree on the process of sending students to study abroad activities (fee-paying scheme) from KKI FTUI students without quota limits. For cooperation with PSS, UWIN will immediately coordinate the implementation of cooperation with PSS which will install DNA extraction equipment (magLEAD) to initiate the Halal Center set up at FTUI. The team from PSS and Prof. Yohda from Japan also plans to go to FTUI shortly, January 16-18 to be precise to set up equipment.”
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Bureau of Public Communications
Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia