BANDUNG, unpas.ac.id – Head of Central Office for Instructional Activity Development and Improvement (Pusat Pengembangan dan Peningkatan Aktivitas Instruksional, P3AI) as well as teacher of Faculty of Teaching and Education (FKIP) Universitas Pasundan, Dr. Cartono, M.Pd., M.T was selected as National Ambassador for Kampus Merdeka Program.
According to the Decree issues by Directorate General of Higher Education (Direktorat Jenderal Pendidikan Tinggi, Dirjen Dikti) per June 2022, Dr. Cartono along with the other 50 Nasional Ambassadors were appointed to be able to take active participation as go to person and agent of change in helping university obtain 8 Main Performance Indicator (Indikator Kinerja Utama, IKU) and Additional Performance Indicator (Indikator Kinerja Tambahan, IKT) through MBKM implementation.
National Ambassador for Kampus Merdeka program is expected to be able to answer and provide solutions to the problems/issues related to the implementation of Kampus Merdeka program, both in the higher education they work in or in the higher education they are responsible for.
National Ambassadors are also led to support university to keep doing international transformation and recognition for their own study programs/departments through MBKM program.
Dr. Cartone himself is responsible for coordinating higher education/universities in area 2, including Banten province, DKI Jakarta, West Java and DI Yogyakarta (DIY) as well. In West Java, there are only four persons, including Dr. Cartono, appointed to be National Ambassador for Kampus Merdeka program. He will serve until 2024.
“It is actually a challenge for me; because in area 2, there are a lot of huge and favourite campuses, either state or private universities. So, the main key is to synergize and collaborate in many things, both with Head of LLDIKTI Region III (DKI Jakarta), Region IV (West Java-Banten), Region V (DIY) and Coordinators of MBKM for higher education,” he said, on Friday, 29 July 2022.
He said that each LLDIKTI has already responded on the MBKM regulation by ambassador representative in each region. Universities are also asked to prepare for each Person-in-Charge (PIC) of Kampus Merdeka program, both at the level of institution and faculty in order to accelerate the achievement of the program: namely to make MBKM program a norm at campus. In this case, campus should be able to implement MBKM program.
Actively Handling Grant-fund from Kemendikbudristek
According to Dr. Cartono, one of the aspects making him being trusted to be National Ambassador for Kampus Merdeka program is probably because he often helps Ditjen Belmawa as National Instructor Team for KPT Kemendikbudristek, reviewer of MBKM grant-fund programs, Head of MBKM Team and leader of various grant-fund programs in his institution.
“Alhamdulillah, Unpas has always passed the grant-fund selection offered by Kemendikbudristek. This year’s peak program is that there are 9 departments and 1 ISS obtaining the fund from the government through Kemendikbudristek,” he said.
No wonder why, Unpas received grant-fund for Kampus Merdeka Competition Program (Program Kompetisi Kampus Merdeka, PKKM), Merdeka Student Exchange (Pertukaran Mahasiswa Merdeka, PKM). In addition, Unpas teachers are also active in responding to various Kemendikbudristek policies or programs, such as the National Competitive Program, Decentralization Program, Research Program and Advanced PKM, and others.
“In PKKM, Unpas is in the perfect category because it has qualified in League 1 with several well-known state universities. The maximum proposed study programs are 5 and 1 ISS program. All five got in and the ISS was approved. This is a very good achievement,” he said.
Prepared to Do Acceleration Program
In the near future, Dr. Cartono and other National Ambassadors will attend a meeting in Bali on 5-7 August 2022. To get ahead on the meeting, he and the other ambassadors have already formed a coordination team in the area 2.
He emphasized that National Ambassadors for Kampus Merdeka program are required to fully support to the MBKM regulation/policy and ensure that the granting of the right to study 3 semesters outside the study program can provide additional competencies that are very useful for graduates, as well as increase the capacity and quality of higher education.
“This mandate requires collaborative work, smart work, and effective work. We are ready to help universities that have not been able to implement the MBKM program in a focused manner, including at Unpas. Do not let the campus itself find obstacles,” he explained. (Reta)**