The Office of International Affairs and Partnerships FMIPA Yogyakarta State University held Socialization of Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) 2023 and Sharing Awardee IISMA, recently online. Sharing experiences showing Daffa Muhammad Rifqi IISMA 2021 Awardee from Biology Study Program who studied in Daugavpils University, Latvia, for one semester.
The event opened by Vice-Dean for Research, Cooperation, Information System, and Business, Pof. Dr. Dadan Rosana. In his speech he said, this IISMA Program is a scholarship program that gives a chance for Indonesian students to learn abroad. This is a great chance because funded by the government through the endowment of those in the LPDP. Many lecturers utilize LPDP funds to study further S2 and S3. This is a chance for students to gain experiences and knowledge of colleges abroad. We compete to get the funds. If they lose the competition later that is a usual matter. “But how we compete to get these funds is part of learning too; that is not less important because the process that we do is not in vain and will be the process of our learning later," he said. At least they have the courage to do the selection process, because sometimes it is deemed useless because of failure. That’s wrong. The experiences will be very useful, moreover if it succeeds. If succeeded it is not only for personal interests, but also will be a hero for the institution (UNY), because this IISMA is a part of contribution towards the Main Performance Indicator (IKU) the college is very big. This is part of improving the college quality and rank including with contribution in this IISMA.
Besides that, Daffa in his presentation says, the courses that offered in 2022 at universities abroad are interesting. At Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, some are studying about understanding k pop. Giving understanding about global marketing. In abroad some universities are studying about Barcelona (Football Club). The students can study about marketing and personal as an economic industry that moves Barcelona. Even at University of California, Davis (UC Davis) the students do groundbreaking research at all aspects of coffee.
Daffa tells a little bit of his experiences while studying in Latvia. He was once late for college because his shirt was exposed to snow. Indeed the distance he lived to college is far enough. He must walk and get on the train to college. But that is the beauty of dynamics in study abroad that different from weather, culture, to the foods. “For the GPA, my classmates used to have a high GPA 3,6 and above. But there are those who have GPA 3,5 but have good speaking skills. He’s good at time management, management and others. Soft skills are needed”, he continued. Daffa also delivers, in making motivation essays, the most important is friends who have a mindset. Shows something that is different from others. There is an X factor of the idea that was written.
“For experiences studying English, I studied from Junior High School. Indeed it’s kinda ‘crazy’ because I often talk with myself in front of the mirror. I often talk to myself, if I want to eat then what the side dish is in English. Write on a paper, the problems encountered and discuss with friends about the parts that are still weak in English. It is better with a small group consisting of 2 or 3 peoples” he concluded.
