After being successful in the scholarship scheme of Erasmus Mundus from fund source of European Union Commission in the program named Bridging the Gap last year, Muhammadiyah University of Malang (UMM) is managed to release two proposals to continue the program. This time UMM gets two programs: "One More Step" and "Let's Move Together" concorcium scheme. Both are scholarship for student and lecturer exchange from UMM to Europe and vice versa.
“Alhamdulillah UMM gets two out of six quotas," said Assistant Rector for Foreign Cooperation, Suparto, on Sunday (21/08). These two schemes get funding from Commission of European Union cost 4 million Euro or similar to Rp. 25 billion for 2011 to 2015 academic year.
UMM rector, Muhadjir Effendy, is convinced that the institution he leads has a strong name in the consortium. During his visit to Italy some time ago, Muhadjir got information from the Presidency of Trento University saying that UMM's students and lecturers could finish their study and activity satisfactorily.
This succes, he said, has made UMM get two-star title from QS Star World University Ranking and 8th rank of national universities in Indonesia based on Webometric ranking. That is why Muhadjir urges his students and lecturers to make use of the campus power to go international.
“I make a program for UMM lecturers to have an international experience. Students, especially functionaries, can also make use of it for student exchange to Europe," said he in front of student funtionaries of UMM some time ago.
Suparto agrees that this success cannot be deprived from the experience of handling last year's Erasmus Mundus that was managed to send 27 students and 8 lecturers of UMM to Europe. This program is considered successful and can be continued with the next program. The consortium coordinator at Trento in Italy gives appreciation to UMM.
Apart from that, said Suparto, the role of students and lecturers is also very big. Consortium in Europe nowadays has known UMM well due to the communication of students and lecturers sent and the service given to European students studying at UMM. "The name of our institution is strong enough, so we are always involved in every program talk with consortium in Asia and Europe," Suparto said.
Up to now, there is no other campus in Indonesia that belongs to these two scholarship consortium schemes. Four other proposals for Indonesia will be announced this September. Suparto hopes that there will be more Indonesian campuses that join this program since it is very positive for international socialization of a university.
The requirement for financed proposal, according to Suparto, is relatively easy. It only needs little international cooperation and needs to keep in touch with consortium members. "Each continent (Asia and Europe) at least has four university partner. Then the talk on the program must be more intense among members," said Suparto who will have a consortium meeting in Huangju, China, this coming October to finalize the program.
In this way, in “Let’s Move Together” program UMM is connected with 15 universities in europe and 12 universities in Asia. The universities in Europe are University of Murcia (Spain), University of Porto (Potugal) , University of Oviedo (Spain) , University of Cagliari (Italy), Lublin Uni of Technology (Poland), University of La Rochelle (France), University of Latvia (Latvia), Compostela Group of Universities (Spain) CARM (Spain) University of Alicante (Spain), UNED (Spain), Casa Asia (Spain), Cyprus International University (Turkey), Psicologos Fronteras University (Spain), Homofaber University (Spain).
The universities in Asia, apart from UMM, are Hunan Normal University (China), Lanzhou University (China), Royal University of Phnom Phen (Kambodia), University of Phillipines (the Philippines), University of Putra Malaya (Malaysia), Hanoi University of Education (Vietnam), University of Madras (India), Sinchuan International Studies University (China), Yenepoya University (India) and University of International (China).
For “One More Step” program, UMM is connected with Universita Degli Studi di Trento (Italy), University of Innsbruck (Austria), University of Chemical Technology and Metallurgy (Bulgaria), University of Eastern Finland (Finland), Technical University of Dresden (Germany), University of Murcia (Spain), Warsaw School of Economics (Poland), Universidade do Minho (Portugal), University of Oviedo (Spain).
The universities in Asia, apart from UMM, are Mongolian University of Science and Technology (Mongolia), National University of Mongolia (Mongolia), University of Laos (Laos), Hanoi University of Science and Technology (Vietnam), Vietnam National University Ho Chi Min City (Vientam), Jilin University (China), Shanghai University (China), Sun Yat Sen University (China), Asia Institute of Technology (Thailand), Burapa University (Thailand), Chulalongkorn University (Thailand), Universiti Sains Malaya (Malaysia), Hanoi University of Transport and Communications (Vietnam), and Associazione Cambogia Libri (Kambodia).
Suparto is convinced that soon UMM enters the level of international recognition, after passing internastional awareness and international exposure. “The step is important to be the world class university,” he ends.
(trans by hamzah - uhamka)