Yogyakarta, October 8th 2020 – The Public Sector Risk Management by the Undergraduate Program of the Department of Public Policy and Management held an open lecture. By presenting Hanif Muhammad, M.Sc. as the guest lecturer, this open lecture discussed specifically about Risk Management and Business Agility in Facing COVID-19. Other than being held according to the course hours—at 07.30 a.m., the discussion session with the speaker was also guided by one of the lecturers in the Public Sector Risk Management course, Media Wahyudi Askar, S.I.P, M.Sc., Ph.D. As the CEO of Boogie Protective and Head of INDEF Center for Innovation and Digital Studies, Hanif combines existing theory with the experience he had had, both from a personal and corporate point of view. However, before entering into the presentation of the material from the guest lecturer, Media as the moderator read out the CV which Hanif responded directly to as a form of introduction to the participants. read more

Yogyakarta, October 5th 2020—Center Digital for Society held the 35th Digital Discussion on Monday night. The event titled Virtual Photoshoot: Stay Creative at Home” was held through the Whatsapp Group platform. Gandung Adi Wibowo, a photographer, was the speaker in the event. The event started at 7 pm and was moderated by Devia Putri Maharani, an event assistant at CfDS As always, before starting the discussion, the moderator talked about the rules of the discussion and introduced the speaker. In this session, Gandung aimed to talk all about virtual photoshoot. While we #stayathome, our social media is filled with a new photography trend that is called virtual photoshoot. The moderator then showed some examples of virtual photoshoot and asked about the concept of the photo to the audience. Most of the audience are still not sure about the virtual photoshoot concept in social media. Actually, virtual photoshoot is used as a solution for photographers during quarantine which makes it almost impossible for them to take photos outside. This trend is booming when a lot of public figures do it too. Gandung said that the concept used by the models to do a virtual photoshoot is by having a video call with the photographer, hold a pose, then take a screenshot. For the equipment, photographers often use SLR, DSLR, Mirrorless & Pocket. The preparations are the same with a normal photoshoot which is by checking the location and property. For example, the day before the photoshoot, photographers need to video call the model to see in which area of the house can the photoshoot be done by seeing which spot has a good light and which spot is unique. Other than that, the internet connection in the spot needs to be paid attention to. “The internet quality is the key. No matter how expensive, how good, how sophisticated the equipment is, it won’t mean a thing if the internet is slow,” Gandung said. The screen is also important. Every media screen has their plus-minus in terms of the pixel, color gamut, or other aspect that determines the quality of the photo. “If you’ve seen a virtual photo that is too pixelated, it’s because of the screen. But the latest tech usually has good screens,” Gadung said. Additionally, the hour of the photoshoot also needs to be paid attention to because it determines the amount of light in the photo. Actually, through our handphone we can already set the ISO, the sensor sensitivity to light. The higher the ISO, the more sensitive it is to light. If the photo location is dim, then the handphone will automatically raise the ISO. The risk of a high ISO is the noise, it can be seen through the pixelated picture and unsharp picture. After this elaboration, Gandung shows some pictures with high and low ISO. On the end of the elaboration, Gandung has a little tips to direct the model. The tip is to hold on to the principle “give compliments, not critics”. Gadung said “If you want the model to smile, make them smile. Don’t say ‘come on, smile!’” he said. The discussion is then followed by a question and answer session. The event ended at 9.pm.

Yogyakarta, October 2nd 2020—In the opening of Magister of International Relations, the Graduate Program of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada cooperated with Institute of International Studies to welcome their new students in the public lecture called Critical Review of International Relations Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic. This public lecture presented four speakers and generally talked about the importance of internal relations science in responding to changes at the global level caused by the pandemic.             The public lecture was opened at 08.30 a.m. by the MC that explained about rules, terms and conditions, and the event’s schedule. After praying, the MC left the process of discussion to the moderator. The moderator, Dr. Siti Muti’ah Setiawati, M.A., which is the Head of Magister of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, explained briefly about the reasons why this public lecture was held, before she let the keynote speaker deliver the material.             The keynote speaker of this public lecture was Dr. Arifi Salman, General Consulate in New York. He talked about Diplomation in the Pandemic Time. Arifi explained much about the condition of relations between countries during the current pandemic and Indonesia’s position in these relations, both at the international, multilateral, as well as bilateral levels.             Talked about the relations between countries, the next speaker, Muhadi Sugiono, M.A., a lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, generally explained more about theories. With his presentation called COVID-19 and the Theorizing Change in International Relations, Muhadi explained about four big theories’ spectrums in international relations science, its characteristics, and the point of views in responding to the ongoing pandemic.             The explanation of Muhadi then continued by the next speaker, Dr. Dafri Agus Salim, M.A., another lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada. His materi called International Responses about Pandemic: The Rise of Political Realism? was brought by Safri to examine the response of each country to the COVID-19 pandemic which turns out to be in line with the point of view of realism theory, which was one of four big theories’ spectrums that was explained earlier by Muhtadi.             In contrast to Muhadi and Dafri, the next speaker, Dr. Maharani Hapsari, who is also the lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, offered new things in her explanation. Her presentation called Pandemic: Opportunity to Drive Planetary Citizenship, Maharani talked about how pandemic has a relation with global extrativism crisis, even after we enter the new normal period. Then, Maharani also explained about planetary citizenship which is widely referred to as new politics of the commons.             As the closing speaker, Dr. Riza Noer Arfani, M.A., also a lecturer of the Department of International Relations of Universitas Gadjah Mada, talked about Deglobalize, Deurbanize: The Context of International Relations in Pandemic Time which was also his research proposal. Before he explained about the topic, Riza explained about the international political-economic review and deglobalization and deurbanization in general. In his research proposal, Riza Riza showed possible theoretical and practical scenarios to use.             Periodically, during each change of speakers, the moderator updates the number of participants who are members of this general lecture session. The public lecture was continued by question and answer sessions that were done in two terms. In the first term, the moderator and the presenter select three questions specifically for the keynote speaker, Dr. Arifi Salman. In the second term, three further questions were selected for the other speakers. The speakers also complement each other’s answers. Due to time constraints, after expressing special thanks from the Department of International Relations for Dr. Arifi Salman for taking the time to join and share material, the moderator closed the public lecture at 11.37 a.m.

Yogyakarta, October 1st 2020—Anyone can experience mental disorders, including students. Realizing the need for lecturers support for the mental health of students, Career Development Centre (CDC) Fisipol UGM, held a Mental Health Workshop on The Role of Lecturers in Supporting Mental Health in the FISIPOL UGM Environment. A lecturer of the Faculty of Psychology of UGM, Muhana Sofiati Utami, became the speaker, meanwhile the psychologist of CDC FISIPOL UGM, Dina Wahida, became the moderator in this event that was joined by dozens of FISIPOL UGM teaching staff.             “Students usually experience mental disorders such as anxiety, depression, procrastination, and dependence,” Muhana said. According to her, enough levels of anxiety could motivate a person. But, if it became too much, anxiety could cause insecurity for someone and thought that something bad would happen to them. Moreover, students can be depressed, from mood disorder to suicide attempt. Depression can be caused by feelings of someone who feels very belittled, worthless, very guilty, to the point of feeling very lost.            Then, Muhana said, students also often procrastinate in doing assignments. She also admitted that sometimes the lecturers also did it. The reality is that many people procrastinate because they are too focused on doing other things. Other than that, she said that many students experience internet dependence. When making a survey in her class, Muhana received many answers from students that they could spend hours in front of gadgets. “There are those who watch Korean dramas, play games, and open the internet for hours so they can’t do anything else,” Muhana said.  She added that the more extreme dependency of the youth is in cigarettes, alcohol, and illegal drugs.             Muhana explained that the characteristics of a mentally healthy individual are being able to build positive relationships with others, enjoy helping and being helped by others, and being responsible. Other than that, a healthy individual can respect themselves and not compare themselves to other people, also they do work based on their capabilities and talents. She said that there are students who force themselves to do things that are not suitable with their abilities, because they compare their achievements with others. In fact, added Muhana, everyone has their own talents. “If we can do the jobs based on our competencies, then we can get good results,” she explained.             “Fisipol students are already aware about mental health issues, but many of them are self-diagnosed themselves,” Dina Wahida said. This psychologist of CDC said that the existence of CDC helps the students to be aware about the importance of mental health issues. But, on the other hand, many students came to the psychologist service of CDC to fulfill their academic purposes. Responding to this, Muhana said that she had also met the same thing at Gadjah Mada Medical Center. She explained, there were students who diagnosed themselves and it turned out to be true, but many also turned out to be wrong. Muhana said, CDC psychologists and FISIPOL lecturers need to understand the condition of students who claim to have mental disorders. She suggested that the CDC Fisipol psychologist determine whether the student really had a mental disorder or was just pretending.             Continuing the question from Dina, Lisa Lindawati, the lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences (Dikom), also asked how the lecturer faced students who claimed to have mental disorders. Muhana suggested that the lecturers should listen to the students’ stories first. However, she continued, it does not mean that lecturers will solve problems from students. Muhana said, lecturers who are willing to listen to problems‒that affect academics‒of students have actually helped to ease the burden of these students. This is because students feel they are heard and it allows them to determine the next steps to solve their problems. “If the lecturer is unable, the lecturer can refer the student to someone who has more authority, for example a CDC psychologist,” Muhana explained.             “When working on a thesis, students look very competitive. Some are motivated, but others feel depressed,” Jusuf Wahyuono said. The teaching staff at Dikom, who was once a thesis tutor, asked about how to be a good thesis tutor in accompanying students in these conditions so that students remain enthusiastic. According to Muhana, a lecturer or thesis tutor needs to make a conducive condition, it means that students can support and help each other. She added that lecturers or thesis tutors could also encourage the friends of students who felt down to encourage them. However, lecturers or thesis tutors must also understand that everyone has a different personality type, so they can treat students appropriately.

Yogyakarta, October 1st 2020 – This year, Sociopreneur Muda Indonesia or SOPREMA back again. SOPREMA is a national annual program by Youth Studies Centre (YouSure) FISIPOL UGM involving youth aged 16-30 years to contribute in solving social problems through social entrepreneurship. In accordance with its purpose, SOPREMA opens wide opportunities and encourages youth throughout Indonesia to create business models by seeing social problems as opportunities for community empowerment, so that entrepreneurship can provide benefits to society. Entering its fifth year of implementation, SOPREMA—in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Bank BRI—made adjustments in its series of activities so that it remains relevant to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from raising the issue of the COVID-19 pandemic in the objectives and theme of activities, SOPREMA also conducted a whole series of activities online. There were at least five series in the SOPREMA 2020, they were competition, incubation, webinar, expo, and media talk. For the beginning, SOPREMA held a webinar called Youth 5.0: The Pros and Cons of a Sociopreneur in a Collaborative Era to Wake Up from the Pandemic. In this webinar, there were five expert speakers from various stakeholders that presented to question the importance of collaboration in efforts to rise from the pandemic that occurred. Moderated by Mashita Fandia, the lecturer of Communication Science of UGM, many of the speakers in this webinar talked about the topics based on their experiences in certain fields. But before that, the webinar was started by the opening speech from Muhammad Najib Azca as the Director of YouSure and Prof. Dr. Erwan Agus Putranto, as the Dean of FISIPOL UGM. Not to forget, the moderator also explained a little about the theme and conditions of the webinar, the terms and conditions of door prizes, before inviting the speakers to deliver the material. As an academic who is active in sociopreneurs issues, Hempri Suyatna—the first speaker—talked much about the urgentities of sociopreneurship, especially for Indonesian youths. From those urgencies SOPREMA presents with its vision and mission Hempri also explained the development of SOPREMA from year to year, including the series of events in SOPREMA 2020. “The spirit that SOPREMA brings is in line with the Ministry of Youth and Sports in supporting and enhancing individual capacities related to sociopreneurship,” Imam Gunawan said, the Assistant Deputy of Youth Entrepreneurship, as the representative of the government—especially the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The government also does several efforts to realize its spirit, including fully supporting SOPREMA. Imam also explained why cooperation from all parties is important in developing sociopreneurship in the society. The three other speakers were the representatives of the people who are active in sociopreneurship activities. Fathin Naufal, the founder of Gifood which has been included in SOPREMA 2018, explained much about his start-up—Gifood and Widya Edutech—adapted and contributed for society in the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Denok Marty, a sociopreneur as well as an environmental activist, shared much about her point of view in seeing the waste problem as a potency and strength that needed to be managed. With the waste management activities that he and his team carried out in Kampung Kitiran, there were many positive impacts from various aspects that the people felt. For the closing, Ucup Klaten, a content creator, shared his stories about his experience in utilizing social media, such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, both before and after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Before that, Ucup used social media to promote his businesses, in this pandemic time he fully utilized his social media. Especially after joining a video competition about social distancing and mudik restriction, he got many positive responses from various parties. From there, his social media was getting crowded and he got many job offers from the government agencies. After concluding all the materials from all speakers, the moderator read out the questions that had been submitted since the beginning of the presentation of the material, both on Zoom and YouTube comment sections. As stated earlier, the eight selected questions are entitled to get a doorprize from SOPREMA. The door prize submission mechanism was explained by the moderator after all the questions were answered by the speakers. With thanks to all the speakers and participants, the moderator officially closed the webinar on 12.40 p.m. Reruns of the SOPREMA Webinar can be watched on the FISIPOL UGM Youtube channel.

Yogyakarta, September 25th 2020—In order to discuss issues of privacy and personal data on the internet, the Ministry of Communication and Information, Facebook Indonesia. Pamflet, and Kelas Muda Digital (Kemudi) in collaboration with the Communication Student Corps (Komako) of UGM, they held a webinar “It’s Time to #Kendalikan Your Privacy: What We Need to Know about Privacy and Personal Data” Yogyakarta series. One of the research centers in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, the Center for Digital Society (CfDS), also participated in this webinar by presenting Yuliana Khong as a speaker.

Other than CfDS, this webinar also presented the other stakeholders to enrich the discussion’s perspective, such as the government—represented by Tuaman Manurung from Ministry of Communication and Information—the academics—represented by Novi Kurnia, Ph.D., the lecturer of the Department of Communication UGM, the social media platform—represented by Dessy Septiane from Facebook Indonesia, and civil society organization—represented by Fietyata Yuda from Forensika Digital Study Center of UII, with Diva Diandra as from Komako as the MC and Resa Tamaputra from Kemudi as the moderator. The event was held on Zoom Meeting and started at 03.00 p.m.

A few days before the event, the organizers also held several small events that were in line with the topics raised in the seminar. Not only that, Komako, Kemudi, and Pamflet have also uploaded infographics several times about personal data protection and privacy in the digital world in order to increase individual awareness.

Even so, it turns out that the government as the policy maker also has an equally important role as individual awareness regarding the protection of privacy and personal data in the digital realm, both in terms of education and regulation. This is as stated by Tuaman Manurung, that the Indonesian government has made four efforts to protect the personal data of its people, including regulatory support, monitoring of personal data protection (PDP) in the communication and information sector, preparing ecosystem implementation and development, and literacy education, as well as raising awareness regarding PDP.

Regarding the regulation of personal data protection in Indonesia, Tuaman said that until now there is no law that comprehensively regulates and serves as an umbrella for PDP in all sectors—these regulations are scattered, separated in the laws of each sector. Therefore, currently, the government is making a more comprehensive and stronger regulation for the protection of personal data in Indonesia. This issue was confirmed by Novi Kurnia. Other than discussing personal data protection regulations in various countries, Novi also explained many examples, data and cases related to violations, leaks, and personal data protection campaigns.

As a digital service provider, Facebook Indonesia, represented by Dessy Septiane, also made efforts to protect the personal data of its users, starting from education in the form of off-platform campaigns, to increasing control, policies and platform arrangements. To be clearer, Dessy displayed the latest privacy settings offered by Facebook, Instagram, and Whatsapp.

Although various parties have made efforts to protect personal data, unfortunately the public—in this context, especially students—still do not have a high level of awareness regarding their digital security. Based on research conducted by CfDS, and presented by Yuliana Khong, content creation skills and knowledge of device security are at the lowest score of all digital competency levels. The result showed that only 31.58% of respondents regularly check security features and device configuration. Yuliana also offered several universal solutions that can be done by various parties in increasing awareness regarding digital security, including protection of personal data and privacy.

In more detail, Fietyata Yudha explained some tips that can be done by individuals in improving their own digital security. It can be started from checking your social media accounts, regularly checking email, being more careful with important documents, avoiding using free wifi, using more complicated passwords, paying attention to and not allowing access to unimportant cookies, using two factor authentication, to using additional security applications such as antivirus.

The explanations from the speakers were followed by a question and answer session from the participants which had previously been conveyed through the comments column and QnA. With the answers to these questions, the speakers took turns delivering their closing remarks before the moderator finally closed the discussion. After taking a group photo, the webinar officially ended at 05.35 p.m. For those who could not join the event could watch the rerun video on the Pamflet Generasi YouTube channel.

Yogyakarta, September 25th 2020—BRIWORK FISIPOL UGM which was moderated by Karina Yusuf held another sharing session series that collaborated with Indonesia Mall in the #BRIWORKMikirBareng. This one-hour discussion session brought the theme Community as the Strength of Business in the Pandemic Era. It presented Susi Harini (Owner of AADS Foods) and Afiat Rasyid Rustamadji (Owner of Gue Giran and the Secretary of Regional Development Bank of DKI Jakarta). The discussion topic was interesting and it succeeded in inviting the public’s attention with the arrival of various participants from various regions, such as Sidoarjo, Malang, and Bogor. The discussion began with Alfiat Rasyid who sparked the discussion with an explanation regarding MSME in the context of a pandemic.

For Rasyid, MSME is one of the important economic cogs because it has contributed to Indonesian economics. But, during this pandemic, the MSME group became quite vulnerable because of the social distancing policy which hampered the running of these MSMEs. As for this, it can be seen from the various types of classified MSMEs groups, starting from the Apparent Death of MSMEs Group, the Fainting MSME Group, the Slowly Moving Economy Wheel MSME Group, and the Fast Moving Economy Wheel MSME Group. Rasyid considered the existence of several groups of MSMEs to be minimized by implementing several alternative solutions, including:

Offer of Alternative Solutions for the Apparent Death and Fainting of MSMEs Group

            For the first two groups of MSMEs, Rasyid gave four things that can be done to survive a pandemic. The first, to immediately seek and implement a new business model. Second, making products that are adaptable to the conditions in difficult times. Third, knit friendship and communication actively and effectively. Fourth, upgrade the businesses.

Offer of Alternative Solutions for the Slowly and Fast Moving Economy Wheel MSMEs Group

Basically, these two groups can be considered as groups that have settled with the conditions during this pandemic. Therefore, the solution offered to this group is to continue to maximize the use of the marketplace and social media to sell and help the Apparent Death and Fainting of MSMEs Group.

Basically, the offer of alternative solutions to how to survive for local MSMEs during this pandemic can also be minimized by applying the methods that are owned by the second speaker, Susi Harini. As the owner of a typical Sleman spinach chip product called AADS Foods, she shares her strategy to continue marketing her spinach chip products. Susi, who stated that she understood the production process better than the marketing aspect of this product, took advantage of the resellers in her area to sell AADS Foods products during the pandemic period. For her, this strategy can be a workable solution for other local entrepreneurs.

Interestingly, Susi also shared her unique experience in starting her spinach chips business. With the persistence of studying with the community she participated in to gather information and knowledge related to business, Susi then convinced herself to open her own stall with only Rp100,000. Uniquely, this capital is supported by the use of production materials that she owns at home, it was spinach. The knowledge she gained during training in the MSMEs community led her to do a series of stages before opening AADS Foods. Among them was registering the license to the local Health Office, seeking licensing for halal labels and brands for AADS Foods. The twists and turns of this business trip have been taken seriously by Susi. To the audience, Susi also emphasized that her business felt helped by the presence of Indonesia Mall which also accommodated its products to be marketed more massively.

Other than Susi, Rasyid who formerly sparked the discussion with the four groups of MSMEs also shared his story about Komunitas Sahabat UMKM which was established to help the local MSMEs in business training, etc. From Susi and Rasyid, participants were invited to understand that local MSMEs during this pandemic can continue to run to meet economic needs with the assistance of the MSMEs community who are ready to support between MSMEs. For Susi, the existence of the MSMEs community is not just a place to gather. More than that, the community is a place to learn, obtain, and distribute support to other MSMEs.

Yogyakarta, September 21st 2020—Center for Digital Society FISIPOL UGM held the 34th Digital Discussion on Sunday night (21/9). The event was titled “Optimizing Your Writing Skill in the Digital Area” and invited Amelia Pandu, a project officer of research in CfDS, as the main speaker. As usual, Made Agus Bayu, an event assistant of CfDS, was acting as the moderator. The event went on from 19.00-21.00 in Whatsapp Group.

In the digital era, there are a lot of things made easy when it comes to writing. This includes when we are in the process of writing or when we want to improve our skills on writing. The existence of the internet allows us to find a lot of material reference when writing. Additionally, we can check our rate of plagiarism and our grammar correctness easier, as well as publicize our writing on various platforms. For university students, writing is an inevitable activity. Be it in the form of essay, op-ed, material resume, book review, research findings, and more. The majority of universities also still makes it mandatory for university students to create a form of writing as a requirement for graduation.

Not only academically, in organizations writing is also inevitable. For example, university students are often asked to write proposals, social media content, and other academic/non-academic writings. That is why for the sake of a smooth university experience, it is important for students to enjoy writing. Therefore, there needs to be a right strategy to grow students’ fondness and skills in writing. For Amel, the first strategy is by getting eager to write. According to her experience, there are two ways to build that feeling of excitement:

• Keeping ourselves updated with knowledge and new events that are happening in this world.
• Talking to ourselves about what we like, what we don’t like, and what we feel to find out what we want to write.

However, there are still several hurdles when it comes to writing because of anxiety or reluctance to write the topic we are told to write. Amel suggests that we brainstorm our ideas first before thinking about the quality of the writing. “Just write down your ideas first, you can think about the quality when you are revising the writing. Just write first,” Amel said.

After increasing our enthusiasm for writing, the next thing we should do is create a writing habit. The more often someone writes, then the more brilliant is their skill in writing. “So that we can make writing a habit, try to dedicate 30 minutes of our day just to write. Use that time to focus and to write anything that you are feeling or thinking at that moment or at that day,” Arnel said. After doing that habit, it is good to start setting a word count that we want to meet every day and that continues to increase gradually.
The next strategy is to make an outline before you write. Making an outline is the fool-proof way to create a more structured, coherent, and efficient writing. In this case, Arnel also gives a simple outline that she makes before writing academic or non-academic articles.

Then, Arnel gave several steps to write more effectively. The first step starts from choosing the theme/topic, gathering credible, actual, and factual writing materials, creating our outline, writing, reflecting, and revising. Revising is one of the most important steps in creating a good writing, but this step is often skipped. “Revision should be done carefully so that the final product can be a clear, focused, and read-worthy product,” Amel said.

Yogyakarta, September 21st 2020—Career Development Center (CDC) Fisipol created a webinar titled “Scholarship Sharing: Get Your Higher Studies Experience in Norway” with Ayudhira Pradati, an awardee of the Norway Quota Scheme Scholarship who is also the head of Indonesia Student Committee in Oslo. In this webinar, she shared her experience through the Zoom platform.

Ayudhira Pradati — better known as Dhira — started the sharing session by talking about the charm of Norway as a place to pursue higher studies. “In Norway, there are a lot of interesting and varying departments and classes. The local culture here, shown through art, tradition, music, and food, is also marvelous. It’s a shame that not many people know about the scholarship offered here when in reality the scholarship offers so many things to the student,” Dhira said.

“The university in Norway has a free tuition fee, but we only need to pay the administration fee for 1 million rupiah per semester for facilities like printers, copy machines, student cart, etc. But, the living fee is also pretty expensive so that’s where a scholarship will come in handy,” Dhira said.

Dhira then elaborates how fun the studying environment is in Norway. “When it comes to mental health, the students here will get everything they need. In the Oslo University, there’s a policy where if the test is seen as difficult by the student, the student can raise their hand and say that they’re having a difficulty. Then two to three days later, the university student can retake the exam. They have three chances to do this,” Dhira said.

Universities in Norway that have become students’ favorites are the University of Oslo, University of Bergen, University of Agder, University of Tromsø, and NTNU.

“For political science students, the popular universities are Oslo and Agder. Meanwhile, NTNU is mostly occupied by science students studying oil and fishery,” Dhira is currently taking a master study in the Department of Culture, Environmental, and Sustainability in the University of Oslo.

The administrative requirements that are needed to apply for a scholarship to Norway are pretty much the same with the requirement for a scholarship to other countries. You will need an IELTS score above 6.5, a GPA above 3.00, a motivation letter, Curriculum Vitae (CV) and a research proposal.
“In preparing for those needs, the Oslo Indonesian Student Committee will also help in terms of IELTS. When it comes to writing motivation letters, what matters is that we are honest, don’t be afraid to ask seniors if you need some help,” Dhira said.

Next, Dhira talked about her life when being a student in Norway. “Students that come from tropical countries will be depressed for a while because there is no sun here. The winter coldness will reach -20°C. The Ramadan fasting will last for 18 hours, we end our fasting at 11 pm and at 2 pm we start fasting again.

The scholarship sharing that was held for one and a half hours is then closed with a question and answer session with the 20 people that attended the show. The information about scholarships in Norway can be accessed through the http://studyinnorway.no/ web, or through the LPDP site www.lpdp.kemenkeu.go.id.

“If we don’t want to enjoy and feel grateful for the process that we’re going through, it’s better if we forget about success completely,” Emma Millania Kartini said. Emma is a batch 2018 student of FISIPOL UGM’s Communication Study who not long ago won the International Table Tennis Championship in Malaysia with her team from UGM. The girl who just turned 20 on 3rd September talks about her long process towards the accomplishment she got. Emma said that since she was in elementary school, his dad has introduced her to table tennis.

When she was in junior high school, Emma was asked to represent Purworejo for three years in a row in the Central Java Student Sports Week. Aside from that, Emma also routinely practices in several towns. “In the morning i go to school, then in the afternoon I go to Jogja, and at night I am picked up by my parents,” Emma said on the topic of her journey when practicing. This routine is done by her because she realizes that if she wants to be a champion, she can’t train in the same place. The bravery to go outside our comfort zone is also important.

Although in some championships she hasn’t won, Emma is still proud of her efforts. According to her, the seed we sow will one day let us harvest the fruits of success one day. “If I lose, well I lose some money and some energy. But, it still gives me experience which will shape our mentality and one day will allow me to become experts,” Emma said. Aside from that, there are several other championships like the Sukun Cup national team championship which helped Emma get into her favorite school.

Emma’s journey continues even when she is in high school. Several times Emma got the chance to represent her school in the provincial and national level. “That was the first time I got on a plane, when I went for a championship in Jakarta, I came home with a miniature airplane flight because I got second place. It made me feel so happy,” Emma said. From that trip, Emma realized that she’s not doing well academically. That is why Emma perseveres in the non-academic lane, which is table tennis. “The bottom line is to be brave enough to try, to take a risk. There will always be sacrifices.” she said.

Until now, table tennis has become one of Emma’s hobbies that have made her one of Purworejo’s best athletes and led her to rack up a lot of achievements. Emma’s journey in going to university is also related to her journey with table tennis. In 2018, Emma successfully secured a place at the FISIPOL UGM’s Communication Studies through the achievement lane. “So, joining the student community becomes a way for me to show gratitude for being accepted here,” Emma said. As a student of UGM, Emma  got the chance to compete in the Table Tennis Invitation EDPYogya-WMP at GOR Lembah with UGM’s Table Tennis student community. Emma got the first place, then she got into the selection process and finally was chosen to represent UGM for a championship in Malaysia.

While joining the UGM Table Tennis student community, Emma continues to train by competing in Bali, Jakarta, Borneo, etc. Though she doesn’t always win, Emma believes that losing is normal. Emma also got third place at the U25 National championship representing Central Java.

Finally, in 2019 she got the chance to go to Malaysia and got a trophy in the International Sports Fiesta held by Mara Technology University. In that championship, UGM’s Table Tennis team got the general champion.Emma also got the first place in the female university student category .  “The finals for that championship was in Nepal and I got to be in a team.

The girl that now becomes the head of UGM’s Table Tennis student community in the 2020 period also has the hope of achieving in the academic area which is by graduating with a cumlaude degree. Not only is she busy with studying, joining organisations, and practicing, Emma also has work experience. One of them is by being a News Presenter in a local RCTI TV in a program called Seputar iNews Yogyakarta, which she still works in until today. She expresses her gratitude of being able to express herself in multiple places other than table tennis. “While we are young, we need to be brave in seeking experiences. Other than being an accomplished athlete, we also need to realize the importance of health and relation these days.” Emma said.