Yogyakarta, 16 August 2019—The Uyghur issue cannot be merely seen as a form of “oppression of the strong against the weak.” Various social, political, cultural and psychological elements in the Chinese society has also influenced this matter. This topic was the focus of Beyond The Great Wall #4, which was held by the Department of International Relations last Friday.

“The decision-making process involves numerous actors that are always influenced by the existing social, environmental and historical aspects,” as stated by Irfan Halim, an expert in intellectual property rights from the Faculty of Psychology. At this event, he discussed the Uyghur issue using historical psychology and narrative psychology perspectives. Furthermore, Arindha Nityasari, a researcher from the Institute of International Studies UGM also presented a book review regarding artificial intelligence in China. read more

Yogyakarta, 6 August 2019—The new student orientation programme of Fisipol UGM, PPSMB Society, is an event held annually to welcome the new students to Fisipol. This year’s event was held for two days, from Tuesday (6/8) until Wednesday (7/8).Similar to the previous years, this year’s event featured several interesting activities. Introduction by the lecturers from the six departments, followed by an opening speech from Erwan Agus Purwanto, the Dean of Fisipol, opened this event. Erwan stated that Fisipol is ready to become the new home and family for the batch of 2019 students. Afterwards, the event was continued with a talk show entitled “Becoming Fisipol, Becoming Indonesia”, which was presented by two Fisipol alumni, Ria Papermoon and Zulfikar Arse Sadikin. This talk show was moderated by Mashita Fandia, lecturer at the Department of Communication Studies.

In addition to the talk show, the new students also participated in a focus group discussion regarding politics in everyday life. After that, an anti-harassment campaign, which was led by Ayu Diasti Rahmawati (lecturer at the Department of International Relations), Dina Wahida (psychologist from the Career Development Center) and Ulya Niami Efrina Jamson (lecturer at the Department of Politics and Government). This campaign was aimed to provide an inclusive environment for everyone in Fisipol.

The first day of PPSMB Society was closed by an exposition, which showcased 18 student clubs in the spheres of art, culture, religion, literature and others, as well as various research centres and student support services. read more

Yogyakarta, 5 August 2019—Adapting to a totally new academic environment is something that all students have to face, including foreign students in UGM. Held simultaneously with the new student orientation programme, GEO Fisipol also held an orientation programme for foreign students. This programme introduced several important institutions to the foreign students that will help them during their stay, which included OIA and GEO Fisipol.This programme was opened by I Made Andi Arsana, Ph.D., the representative from OIA. He explained various aspects regarding the visa arrangement procedures for the foreign students. The foreign students were also given a student ID card as an additional ID for their stay in Indonesia.

Afterwards, the foreign students were taught on how to take courses in Fisipol UGM. Classes from the Department of Public Policy and Management and the Department of International Relations were available for them. Foreign students can take classes that are under the International Undergraduate Programme or the Immersion Programme, and they are also able to take regular classes should they have a sufficient proficiency of Indonesian.

In addition, the foreign students were also introduced to the Buddy Club, which can help them in formal and informal matters. Several programmes of the Buddy Club include Welcoming Dinner, City Tour, Cultural Exposure, Garden Gathering and Farewell Party. In the Cultural Exposure programme, foreign students can experience making batik, visit other cities and interact with the locals. read more

Yogyakarta, 3 August 2019—During the welcoming ceremony for the new students from the batch of 2019, Fisipol held a meeting for the parents of the new students to introduce more about Fisipol, which took place in the West Hall of Fisipol UGM. This meeting was held in order to introduce the faculty members of Fisipol, which included the dean, the vice-dean, the senate, the lecturers and other faculty members to the parents.Erwan Agus Purwanto, the Dean of Fisipol UGM, was delighted to welcome the parents of the new students.  “Congratulations for the success of your sons and daughters in passing the entrance exam and be able to continue their studies in UGM, especially in Fisipol, a faculty that always produces exemplary graduates”, Erwan stated. read more

Yogyakarta, 30 July 2019—GEO Fisipol UGM’s SMU-UGM Summer Course Program was opened on the 28^th of July. This event was participated by students from both Singapore Management University (SMU) and Universitas Gadjah Mada. Participants of this event took part in cultural activities provided by GEO.

On the second day, the 30^th of July, the participants learned about small and medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia and ASEAN. This course also discussed regarding the 2025 ASEAN Economic Community. According to the course tutor, Dr. Dafri Agussalim, Gojek plays an important role in digitalising the Indonesian economy, particularly by supporting small and medium-sized enterprises. read more

Yogyakarta, 24 July 2019—With the rapid development of new technologies, the government must always keep up with the current pace in order to pursue its national interests. Different states have different capabilities, in terms of both technology and institutional oversight. Thus, CfDS tried to analyse the possibility of the establishment of the Ministry of Digital Affairs in Indonesia.

This research, which was entitled “Opportunities for the Establishment of the Ministry of Digital Affairs in Indonesia” and was presented by four researchers from CfDS: Anisa Pratita Kirana Mantovani, Anggika Rahmadiani, Theodore Great Aipasa, Janitra Haryanto and Sri Handayani Nasution. read more

Yogyakarta, 19 July 2019—The meeting between Jokowi and Prabowo at the Senayan MRT Station on the 13th of July triggered both positive and negative responses on Twitter, as revealed by the Center for Digital Society (CfDS) of Universitas Gadjah Mada last Friday.From the 13th to the 16th of July, 169,238 Tweets contained hashtags that support the reconciliation. According to Trevilliana Eka Putri, the researcher and also the manager of CfDS, only 15% of this amount were original Tweets. “The rest were Retweets and replies,” she stated.

21% of the Tweets that were supportive of the hashtag #03PersatuanIndonesia (#03UnityoIndonesia) were original. “It means that these posts were more decentralized, more people were willing to express their opinions by using that hashtag. Most of the pro-reconciliation Tweets featured “MRT”, “Indonesia”, “Jokowi”, “Prabowo” and “akhirnya” (at last) as keywords, showcasing the long-awaited reconciliation,” as stated by Paska Darmawan, Putri’s colleague.

On the other hand, there were also Tweets that disapproved the meeting between the two figures. Several popular hashtags were #0p0sisitanparek0nsiliasi (#theoppositionwillnotreconcile), #AniesBaswedanforpresident and #kampretakantetapberjuang (#thetadpoleswillcontinuetostruggle – “tadpole” is a derogatory term used to refer to Prabowo’s supporters), in which the number of original Tweets was 8%, 9% and 8% respectively. Furthermore, the hashtag #rekonsiliasirasaterasi (#shrimppastereconciliation) was consisted of 15% original Tweets. Several keywords in this side were “bantu” (help), “like”, “ayo” (let’s go) and “naikkan tagar” (raise the hashtag), as well as mention to other accounts. read more

Yogyakarta, 19 July 2019—The four day long 21st Biennial International Conference Of International Consortium  for Social Development had reached its conclusion and was offically closed by Manohar Pawar as the President of ICSD in Balai Senat, Gedung Pusat UGM.

In ICSD, various ideas and narration was brought by the 250 presenters from 28 countries. In the first day on Tuesday, the 16th of July, the conference gave spotlight on how bad Indonesia’s achievements on SDGs is, which was brought by a keynote speaker, Vivi Yulaswati as the National Director for Alleviating Poverty and Development of Social Welfare. read more

Jogjakarta, 15 July 2019 – The Department of Social Development and Welfare of FISIPOL UGM held the 21st Biennal International Conference Of International Consortium for Social Development (ICSD) titled “Strengthening Social Development to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. The conference brought 250 presenters from 28 countries and took place from 16 July to 19 July in Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Manohar Pawar as the president of ICSD, who hails from Charles Sturt University Australia, expressed his appreciation for FISIPOL’s hard work in bringing ICSD’s international dialogue.  ICSD, that have been going on since the 1970s, has the main goal of building social consciousness on sustainable development. “Even though ICSD have been held in almost 50 years, ICSD is still relevant because of the various social problems that also increase. The most important point from ICSD is looking at the potential of human resource,” said Manohar Pawar. read more

Yogyakarta, 13 July 2019—Fisipol Welcomes was held for 2 days, from the 13th to the 14th of July 2019. This event was opened by Erwan Agus Purwanto as the Dean of Fisipol. “This written exam is the first step to achieve your dreams”, he stated in his opening remarks. Afterwards, Aruna Paksi Pradana, the chairman of the organizing committee, also presented his opening speech. He conveyed that Fisipol Welcomes is one of Fisipol’s focus activities.Fisipol Welcomes is Fisipol’s annual event that is held during UGM’s admission exams. In 2018, Fisipol Welcomes was held twice, once during the Joint Entrance Selection of State Universities (SBMPTN) and also during UGM’s independent admission exam (UTUL). For this year, this event is held once and was focused on assisting the participants of UGM’s independent admission exam.

This event was free of charge and was open to all prospective students that have been registered to participate in this exam. Fisipol provided several facilities, such as accommodation, breakfast and motivation classes for students of both natural science and social science spheres. Around 140 students that hailed from various parts of Indonesia benefited from this event.

Rani Linggar, a 19-year-old exam participant from Temanggung, conveyed that this event greatly motivated her in preparing her admission exam. She stated that Fisipol Welcomes 3.0 has positively impacted her before and during the exam. She recommended that this event to be held again in the future. In her opinion, the free accommodation, food and transportation has reduced the burden of the participants and has helped them to focus solely on the exam. read more