Yogyakarta, 22nd of March 2025 — Once again, Fisipol UGM’s Career Development Center (CDC) opens the Essential Skills : Intensive Writing and Speaking Classes Batch V Program. This program is opened in collaboration with the University of Melbourne in attempting to accommodate the student needs for English language learning, which is identified as an essential skill by the faculty for study and career preparation. At the same time, this program is also aimed to train self-confidence through verbal and written communication in English.
Arsip:
SDGs 16: Peace Justice and Strong Institutions
Yogyakarta, March 19th 2025─The Department of Sociology, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (Fisipol) held a Public Discussion and Book Review on “Political Sociology: Contemporary Perspectives and Approaches Reflecting on Young People’s Political Practices” on Wednesday (19/3). Together with a number of political and sociology experts of Fisipol UGM, the discussion raised the urgency in political perspectives apart from political actors and media.
Delivered by lecturer of the Department of Sociology, Dr. Lambang Trijono, the writing of the book was motivated by unrest over political discourse that pays less attention to social perspectives. “There is a desire to develop where politics is. I noticed that political discussions do not see the reality in our society,” he said. So far, political discussions have been closely related to the narrative of power and authority of the government as a political actor. However, the community as a group that has sovereignty in a democratic system is neglected.
Yogyakarta, 6 March 2024–Adapting to digital innovation is not easy and is full of challenges. However, Indonesia’s internet access and artificial intelligence (AI) technology have great potential for being utilised in the public sector. This is important to increase productivity and work efficiency by simplifying procedures and bureaucracy. Through an event titled “AI in the Public Sector: Between Adoption and Discretion,” CfDS opened an interactive discussion on AI strategies for the public sector.
The Indonesian government initiated the implementation of AI in the public sector by issuing the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (Menkominfo) No. 9 of 2023 on the ethics of artificial intelligence. However, according to Hossea Immanuel, research assistant at CfDS UGM, the initiative still faces some challenges due to inadequate digital infrastructure.
“There are still problems regarding AI implementation in Indonesia, such as the ransomware attack on the national data center last year. Of course, this contradicts the purpose of implementing AI,” said Hossea in his presentation.
Yogyakarta, 5 March 2025–After passing through a democratic party over the past year, Indonesia has experienced a dynamic political movement. At the same time, Election Corner Fisipol UGM released a new research titled “Coalition Map of 2024 Simultaneous Regional Election Winners in Indonesia”. This research reveals the political dynamics in the 2024 Simultaneous Regional Head Elections (Pilkada) held throughout Indonesia. The main finding of this research highlights the trend of minimal electoral competition due to the dominance of large coalitions.
Yogyakarta, February 25th 2025─The Department of the Public Policy and Management held a Studium Generale entitled “Integrated Hydro – Irrigation – Restoration Systems”. This theme is a response to overcome various challenges, especially in water resources.
The event presented Prof. Edward P. Weber, professor of Public Policy of the Oregon State University, USA. He saw that problems regarding the management of our food, water and energy are still seen as partial problems. This perspective makes food, water and energy management inefficient and unsustainable.
Yogyakarta, 21 February 2025–Pursuing higher education is not easy. Students, including doctoral or PhD students, often face various problems or challenges, from financial to mental health. Responding to this issue, The Conversation Indonesia held a webinar entitled “The Doctoral Road: From Financial Difficulties to Mental Stress” with academics and doctoral candidates. The event invited Pratiwi Utami, PhD (Lecturer at the Department of Communication Sciences UGM) and Herman Yosef Paryono (Doctoral Candidate in Organizational Behaviour, University of Groningen) as webinar speakers.
Yogyakarta, February 20 2025─As a response towards the flawed policies regarding elections in Indonesia, Perludem and Polgov UGM organized a seminar titled “Urgency for the Revision of Election Laws in an Effort to Fix the Election System”. This event, which was organized at the Fisipol Auditorium located on the Fourth Floor of the Fisipol Mandiri Building, invited Khoirunnisa Nur Agustyanti (Executive Director of Perludem), Abdul Gaffar Karim (Lecturer at Fisipol UGM), Zainal Arifin Mochtar (Lecturer at UGM’s Faculty of Law), Feri Amsari (Lecturer at UNAND’s Faculty of Law) as speakers dan Fadli Ramadhanil (Program Manager of Perludem) as the discussion moderator.
Yogyakarta, February 19th 2025—The welcoming event for the year 2024/2025 postgraduate students was held by UGM’s Faculty of Social and Political Science (Fisipol) on Wednesday (19/2). Followed by a total of a hundred college students from the magistery and doctoral programmes, the welcoming event includes activities aimed at introducing the newly accepted students to the faculty, as well as basic social and political sciences. Fisipol UGM invited Dr. Rob Manwaring, a lecturer from the Flinders University, to teach the basics regarding the field of public policy
Dr. Wawan Mas’udi, S.IP., MPA, as the Dean of Fisipol UGM, welcomed all the postgraduate students who were officially accepted to Fisipol UGM with open arms. “Welcome and happy learning. It is expected that once in the postgraduate level, all of you can further explore social, economical, and political phenomenons not only as empirical aspects, but as a framework that requires discipline,” Dr. Wawan mentioned. He then went on to explain that Fisipol UGM provides the much needed access for students to create, build their career, as well as networking.
Postgraduate education holds an important role in cultivating the development of knowledge. Dr. Wawan explained further that the faculty has an agenda to make Fisipol UGM as the center for the development of the study of social and political sciences. Of course, this mission is not only aimed at reaching new heights nationally, but globally as well. Because of that, Fisipol UGM always tries to build international networks in order to further push the development of the study of social and political sciences even wider. “If we want to be the global center for knowledge, it is necessary for Fisipol UGM to interact with the outside world. The academic world is broad and borderless,” Dr. Wawan explained. He also explained the three flagship research that Fisipol UGM owns, which includes the research regarding climate change, digital transformation, and social inclusivity. The development of these three flagship research cannot be separated with the roles of postgraduate students in responding to these issues through a global academic lens.
Dr. Wawan Mas’udi, S.IP., MPA, as the Dean of Fisipol UGM, welcomed all the postgraduate students who were officially accepted to Fisipol UGM with open arms. “Welcome and happy learning. It is expected that once in the postgraduate level, all of you can further explore social, economical, and political phenomenons not only as empirical aspects, but as a framework that requires discipline,” Dr. Wawan mentioned. He then went on to explain that Fisipol UGM provides the much needed access for students to create, build their career, as well as networking.
Postgraduate education holds an important role in cultivating the development of knowledge. Dr. Wawan explained further that the faculty has an agenda to make Fisipol UGM as the center for the development of the study of social and political sciences. Of course, this mission is not only aimed at reaching new heights nationally, but globally as well. Because of that, Fisipol UGM always tries to build international networks in order to further push the development of the study of social and political sciences even wider. “If we want to be the global center for knowledge, it is necessary for Fisipol UGM to interact with the outside world. The academic world is broad and borderless,” Dr. Wawan explained. He also explained the three flagship research that Fisipol UGM owns, which includes the research regarding climate change, digital transformation, and social inclusivity. The development of these three flagship research cannot be separated with the roles of postgraduate students in responding to these issues through a global academic lens.
The welcoming event was continued with the presentation of basic public policy by Dr. Rob Manwaring. Dr. Rob explained the important foundations regarding the field of public policy and why the development of this field is very important. According to him, the government carries an important mandate in organizing the livelihood of thousands or even millions of the population. The process of decision-making then has to consider the interests and needs of the people as a whole. Rob then elaborated the two main elements in public policy, that is the tool and instrument of the government.
“One of the instruments in public policy is the law. The government of Australia, in some cases, used the law as the main instrument, although the people-centered perspective is still used,” Dr. Rob mentioned. He gave several examples in how the government handled the problems of drivers going over the speed limit and Driving Under the Influence (DUI). For some time, Australia experienced a spike in traffic fatalities due to crashes. Responding to this issue, the Australian government then gave out sanctions to drivers who were caught to be under the influence by taking away their drivers license.
Yogyakarta, February 14th 2025─The public lecture titled “Holding the State Accountable: Human Right Commitments and Institutional Responsibility” discussed the role of the state and its institutions in ensuring the protection of human rights. Through discussions with human rights practitioners, the lecture looked at the state’s commitment and institutional accountability in ensuring human rights in Indonesia.
Human rights cannot be implemented when there is no mechanism, or when the mechanism for implementing human rights is weak. Although human rights mechanisms have been regulated at the international level such as the Paris Principles, every time there is a human rights violation at the domestic level, the resolution takes precedence over national mechanisms. Meanwhile, national human rights protection institutions vary from the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI), National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan), to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Komisi Kebenaran dan Rekonsiliasi). For this reason, the seminar organized by the study program of the Department of Politics and Government at Faculty of Social and Political Sciences of UGM aims to examine the standards of work carried out by human rights protection institutions in Indonesia.
Yogyakarta, January 15th 2025 ─ Looking at the movement of labor organizations in Indonesia, Fisipol Corner of Universitas Gadjah Mada held a book review session of Labor and the State in Indonesia and Labor Writes 3: Split, Move on Wednesday (15/1). Both books contain reflections on labor experiences that are packaged in history so as to produce a picture of the political economy situation from time to time.
Vedi R. Hadiz, author of Labor and the State in Indonesia, states that the cultural condition of the current government’s fundamental system is not much different from the New Order. Starting from the question of why the voice of workers is still weak, even though democratization has been running after the reformation, Vedi thinks that this condition is due to the complex situation of the government. “Even though during the new order, the institutions and the government were destroyed, the power relations are still running until now,” explained Vedi.