Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta (UNY) held an undergraduate graduation ceremony for the Bojonegoro Regency Village RPL Program on Sunday (17/9) at the Performance Hall of UNY's Faculty of Language, Arts and Culture. Three hundred eighty-four village officials attended the undergraduate graduation with details of 16 people from the Faculty of Education and Psychology, 186 from the Faculty of Social, Law and Political Sciences, and 182 from the Faculty of Economics and Business. The village officials include the Village Head, Village Apparatus, village business entity managers, tourism managers, Youth Organization, and Women Organization representatives.

Graduates with the highest Grade Point Average (GPA) were Firsty Septina Anggraeni, S.Pd. (Out of School Education) with a GPA of 3.77, Yuntik Rahayu, S.A.P. (Public Administration) with a GPA of 3.81, Titik Sriwati, S.Pd. (Sociology Education) with a GPA of 3.59, Tyas Shafira, S.E. (Management) with a GPA 3.79, and Diajeng Ayu Rosiana, S.E. (Accounting) with a GPA of 3.73.

Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration,  Prof. (HC), Dr. (HC), Drs. Abdul Halim Iskandar, M.Pd, said human resource investment will look expensive if only measured by money. But when measured by the value that will be achieved in the future, there is no such thing as expensive.

"This afternoon, I witnessed something extraordinary. This program is a good step taken by the Regent of Bojonegoro, supported by the Rector of UNY and his staff to realize this. I dare to state that this is not only the first in Indonesia but the first in the world," said Abdul Halim Iskandar.

The Village Minister recounted that the ASEAN Summit in Bali agreed on the establishment of the ASEAN Villages Network, which was followed up with a meeting of village heads throughout ASEAN where Indonesia was represented by 9 village heads who were divided into three categories, namely digital villages, tourist villages and villages with superior products. According to him, the most talkative in the meeting was the village head from Indonesia because of the many successes of village development that have been achieved.

Community service, which was never imagined to be converted into academic grades, has now become one of the points in academic assessment. "This is important to change our paradigm of thinking that a scholar must sit in college for at least 4 years," he said. Bojonegoro replied that village officials can also become scholars. The Minister also emphasized the importance of attitude, behavior, and ethics for village officials with additional attributes of a bachelor's degree.
According to the Regent of Bojonegoro, Dr. Hj Anna Mu'awanah, M.H, the Village RPL program is the first of its kind in Indonesia, with RPL scholarships for 2022-2023 totaling 21.4 billion Rupiah for education funds for 999 undergraduate programs and 5.5 billion Rupiah for education funds for 250 graduate programs. "This graduation does not make you know everything. However, after graduation, you must be more prepared to learn everything, especially in building and prospering the community in the village," said the Regent. She stated that the Village RPL program has a positive impact, including increasing the quality of human resources because the village government apparatus is the most essential part of implementing Village Government that is accountable, transparent and participatory. In addition, the ability and skills of Village-Owned Enterprises managers can also encourage business development by utilizing village potential/assets to generate income and contribute to increasing village revenue for the most excellent welfare of the village community. On the other hand, the capacity of professional village assistants also increases in facilitating the implementation of village development and community empowerment so that it can run effectively and accountably.

The Rector of UNY, Prof. Sumaryanto, congratulated the graduates of the RPL Village Program for their success in completing their studies. "We would also like to thank the Regent of Bojonegoro for sending village officials to study at UNY and the Minister of Villages, Development of Disadvantaged Regions and Transmigration as the initiator of the Village RPL Program, which has now become a reference for various universities," said the Rector. The Village RPL Program in Bojonegoro Regency is a collaboration between the Ministry of Villages, Yogyakarta State University and Bojonegoro Regency, which aims to improve the quality of village human resources in realizing the Village SDGs. It is hoped that all academic degrees achieved and the knowledge, skills and competencies obtained will benefit the graduates, families, nation and state of the Republic of Indonesia, especially for the Bojonegoro Regency area. (Author: Dedy, Editor: Sudaryono, Tj.Lak)