In the year of 2016, Indonesia will enter the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) with 10 countries included. In the AEC, there are eight working areas which require the professionals to compete, namely engineering, architecture, accounting, land-survey, medicine, nursing, teaching, and tourism.

As Yogyakarta State University (YSU) is a leading university in producing teachers, it becomes the responsibity of YSU for producing competitive graduates. The university should be prepared for the coming of foreign teachers seeking for jobs in Indonesia. It would be much better if YSU graduates could be employed in ASEAN countries outside Indonesia, but the requirements must be obvious. Thus, YSU is challenged to set the requirements for teacher employment.

Those statements came from Dr. Ing. Satoto Endar Nayono, M.Eng, M.Sc, Director of the Office of International Affairs and Partnerships in the Workshop on International Partnership Development hosted by Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences in the Faculty Meeting Room on Monday (4/1/2016). Several YSU officials and functionaries were reported attending the agenda.

Satoto further explained that the global challenges we have to face are the advancement in science and technology development which demands professional services. This encourages us to be able to quickly adjust to the fast mobility.
"We have several opportunities namely very diverse natural resources and bonus demography since Indonesian population reaches more than 250 million people. These bonuses are subject to us, to set up better higher education. In addition to natural resources and bonus demography, the other opportunity is open windows to the international world," he added.

Satoto further revealed the benefits of internationalization that facilitate civitas academica to have more confidence in participating in the international areas, namely writing articles in international journals, attending international conferences, joining sit-in programs and student exchange, as well as competing in the world-wide competitions.

Furthermore, YSU could conduct more research collaborations with foreign institutions, such as international universities, AusAid, USAID, and JICA. The university could also gain financial benefits from international students enrollment. (witono)