BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – Other than education, research and development, serving to the community also becomes the important point in actualizing a qualified university.
In Unpas, Community Service Institution (Lembaga Pengabdian Masyarakat, LPM) hold the main role as facilitator and coordinator for academic civitas to serve the community. LPM aims to facilitate the teachers and coordinate the budget scheme from Kemendikbudristek or other institutions.
“If there are information about the budget scheme from Kemendikbudristek, LPM will further inform it to the teachers. Apart from that, LPM also co-works with other institutions, such as the ministry, provincial government, related institutions in both city and regional government and technical institution in the district/city government. So, we take part as the leading sector,” explained the Head of Unpas LPM, Dr. Ir. Asep Dedi Sutrisno, M.P., on Wednesday (June 23rd, 2021).
One of the routine programs that has been running since 2011 is collaboration with district, city and provincial DPRD throughout Indonesia. In this case, Unpas LPM was recommended by the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Kementerian Dalam Negeri) through the Human Resources Development Agency (Badan Pengembangan Sumber Daya Manusia, BBPSDM).
“This collaboration is a kind of study on the preparation of academic texts for the preparation of the Raperda, the implementation of deepening tasks for members of the council in the form of workshops or technical guidance, and so on,” he said.
Although LPM is not as busy as in the normal condition during Covid-19 pandemic, few academic civitas keeps providing assistance at the Provincial, City and Regional government. LPM, especially, becomes a partner to provide some experts in the institutions.
Other than involving the teachers, LPM also holds a program which integrates Dharma of Education and community service into a Thematic Field Practice (Kuliah Kerja Nyata, KKN). The program is applicative and involves the student to directly get into the field of work.
“Lastly, the program was held in 2019, right before Covid-19 pandemic. We worked together with Kemendikbudristek to run Citarum Harum program,” he said.
In carrying out the task, LPM is integrated with the Research Institution (Lembaga Penelitian, Lemlit), especially to continue the research result to be implemented into the society. Although these two institutions are terminologically separated, they are in fact related to each other.
“Currently, teachers are required to write a research than can be implemented into the society, as Kemendikbudristek suggested to. Therefore, their research really has double advantages. Not only they are able to be published in the journal, but also give benefits to the society,” he explained.
The service target set by LPM varies in many sectors, including the fields of law, economy, technology, social, politics, education, culture and others. Before getting into the society, LPM and related teachers will observe the targeted area first to adjust to the factual existing issues and problems.
Before Covid-19 pandemic spread worldwide, the application scope of LPM could reach outside Java, including Papua, Riau, Maluku, Kalimantan, Sumatera, Sulawesi and other areas. Even more, LPM has several times existed internationally.
“We have been submitting the design result and construction of mocaf or cassava flour processing machine to the Republic of Fiji for four years in a row. Then, we were also involved in entrepreneurship program One Asia,” he ended. (Reta)*
