Yuda Pamungkas (Electronics Engineering Education) and Muhammad Solikhin (Automotive Engineering Education) took part in the Short Internship Program at Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology (STUST), Tainan City, Taiwan which lasted for two weeks (04 / 11-16 / 11/2019). The internship itself placed them both in Mechanical-Mechatronics Engineering and Mechanical-Thermo Fluids, and Energy Laboratory.

Muhammad Solikhin explained that both of them started the program with orientation in the laboratory with Prof. Nai-Shang Liou as Chairman of STUST Mechanical Engineering, and Prof. Wei-Chin Chang who heads the Future Power Systems and Fuel Cell Lab. They also got the orientation on Robot and Servo Drive Lab under the direction of Prof. Ming-Shyan Wang, and accompanied by Muslikhin as a PhD student at the laboratory who is also a lecturer in UNY's Electronics and Information Engineering Education. As for the detail activities, students get mechanical material including future power, microcontroller, sensors, assembling while in the electrical realm studying BLDC motors, drives and controllers and discussing research and development related fields such as electric cars. Activities carried out every Monday-Friday which is filled in the form of laboratory discussions. While every Saturday there is a field trip activity around Tainan City to find out more closely the social-culture in Taiwan.

Dr. Tawardjono Usman and Bambang Sulistyo, M. Eng., From the Department of Automotive Engineering Education as assessors in the short internship program. Yuda said that they blend together and cooperate in the tasks and challenges given. In fact, on Friday (8/11) both of them briefly followed the presentation on the design of a wind turbine generator with low cogging torque designed by Nasir Tan, PhD; a researcher from Jakarta who deliberately came to Tainan City to create a prototype and look for an industrial partner in Taiwan. ”This is a good example on how close the connection between academics and industry,” Yuda said.

The short internship program itself was a part of implementation of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between UNY-STUST a few months ago. Combining the material with a variety of fun activities such as discussion, study literature, assembling products, and plan development makes this activity more memorable. In addition, participants seemed to enjoy each activity and mingle with one another including Indonesian students who were studying at the campus. Hope this activity will be able to provide an overview of academic and industrial links and matches and attract the interest of Indonesian youth studying in the country of Formosa, another designation for Taiwan. (SOL / MUS; Tj.Lak)