Yogyakarta, 30 November 2019—Prof. Dr. Erwan Agus Purwanto, M. Si, the Dean of Fisipol, presented a presentation entitled “Transformation into a Digital Faculty.” He presented this presentation on UGMtalks 2019, which was entitled “Innovating Education, Strengthening Our Nation.” This event was held by the Center of Academic Innovation and Studies of UGM and was held in the auditorium on the 5th floor of the Postgraduate Building of UGM last Saturday.
This event featured 8 speakers with different expertise that hailed from various faculties of UGM. Prof. Erwan’s presentation focused on the possible implications of the Industry 4.0 to various sectors, including the education sector.
“Many conventional products and services have disappeared, or at least influenced, by the digital disruption. The education sector is greatly affected by this disruption,” he stated. Today, education is relatively easy to access and affordable if accessed online, as there are many online courses that are free and easily accessible.
“Sooner or later, technology will make universities obsolete. Who knows if in the future, that the professions that are usually filled by university graduates will no longer exist? Future professions will require jobseekers to be adaptable to changes,” Prof. Erwan conveyed.
With the digital faculty concept, Prof. Erwan stressed the importance of analysing the emergence of new professions. Future professions will bring humans and machines closer. Hence, it is important to prepare graduates with the relevant competencies.
“Graduates need to be able to actively collaborate and cooperate with other, as today’s professions are usually project-based with clear goals,” Prof. Erwan stated.
Examples of Fisipol’s innovations include a one-stop services portal, a digital library, a digital lab and a big data lab. Fisipol has also launched various programs to support innovations, such as the Fisipol Creative Hub (C-Hub). C-Hub was established to provide a transdisciplinary approach for students in solving social problems.
Fisipol implements a digital transformation in order to achieve the three obligations of a university (Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi): education, research & development and public service. “Universities shouldn’t be old-fashioned and must be able to adapt to changes,” Prof. Erwan conveyed.