Socialization of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka Program in FISIPOL UGM

Yogyakarta, June 16th 2021━To welcome the MBKM program, Fisipol UGM held a MBKM Socialization on Monday and Wednesday, 14th and 16th June 2021 through a Zoom meeting. The socialization was meant for active students of FISIPOL UGM who want to be a part of the MBKM program so that they know the program comprehensively. There are 8 arenas of the MBKM that were covered in the socialization; Student Exchange, Independent Study, Humanity Project, Community Empowerment Project, Intern, Research, Social Entrepreneurship, and Teaching Project. 

The first session on Monday was opened by Dr. Wawan, the Dean of Fisipol UGM. Wawan said that right now, Fisipol UGM has created the MBKM team and is currently preparing the whole program. The aim is to give students freedom in exchanging their university-mandated courses with several activities that students can do outside their university. “MBKM is like a learning method. Therefore, the activities taken by students can be related to each department. Therefore, the study program can focus on several MBKM areas related to their curriculum,” said Wawan. 

The first socialization covers the Student Exchange program and was presented by Marwa, M.Sc as the manager of the Global Engagement Office (GEO) Fisipol. In her presentation, Marwa said that a variety of student exchanges can be done by students whether in or outside the country. Marwa also talked about the things that need to be prepared. The session was followed by a socialization about Independent Study by Vandy Yoga Swara, S.Sos., M.A. that explains the aim and format of the activity. 

The Humanity Project socialization was presented by Muhammad Djindan, S.IP., M.Sc. that explains the whole process of the GPA conversion. According to Dijandan, in the planning stage, an understanding needs to be created between students, lecturer, and partner organizations. The last session, which is the one about Community Empowerment project was socialized by Eka Zuni Lusi Astuti, S.Sos., M.A. “This arena will be valuable for students that are active in their community,” said Eka. 

The second day of socialization was started with an explanation about the internship arena by Acniah Damayanti, S.IP., M.A. In that session, it was explained that there were two types of internship; single and double track. The component of the internship arena and the process of the program was also explained. Then the socialization about the Teaching Project was given by Dr. Evi Lina Sutrisno. According to Evi, “When teaching we also need to learn, the result of this learning will then be shared through the teaching activity”.

The research area of MBKM was presented by Wahyu Kustiningsih, M.A., who talked about the requirements, input, process, and output of the program. Wahyu advises students to actively communicate with their study program before doing the MBKM activity. The last arena is the Social Entrepreneurship program presented by Lisa Lindawati, S.IP., M.A. who talked about the scope, aim, and mechanism of the program.