Joyful faces were clearly expressed by students of 4th,5th, and 6th grade, Muhammadiyah Kemadang Elementary School, Gunung Kidul. The reason was the visit of 9 international students from varying countries on Tuesday (4/5). Those international students are Darmasiswa and Developing Countries Partnership (DCP) scholarship awardees that attend Indonesian language and culture course for a year in Yogyakarta State University (YSU).

Culture is such an important matter for Indonesia as a nation as it becomes the element that preserves the nationalism among citizens. However, if the culture is not well maintained, it is possibly claimed by other nation. Unfortunately, we lost some cultural elements as they have been claimed by neighboring countries. That is the absolute proof of lack of awareness among Indonesian in retaining their culture.

Wrapped in an orange dress, that little girl sat cross-legged. Her hands clutched a gunungan (Mountain-shaped puppet) marking the beginning of the event. The chiming sound of gamelan (traditional ensemble music of Java and Bali, Indonesia) reverberated and her little voice uttered the play of “Gathotkaca Senopati”. The scene marked the event of the Little Pupeteer Festival VI held by YSU’s Education Museum of Indonesia. That little girl’s name was Elvia Trisniawati, one of the participants of the event coming from Blora.

The student of Geography Education, Faculty of Social Sciences, Yogyakarta State University, class of 2015, Yuli Widiyatmoko, won first runner-up in the event of the 1st Indonesia Geographic Student Summit 2016 Infographics Contest organized by the Indonesian Student Association of Geography at the University of Muhammadiyah Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara on 27-29 April, 2016. The event was attended by 27 universities from all over Indonesia. Among them are the University of Indonesia, Institute of Technology Bandung, Institute of Agriculture Bogor, Gadjah Mada University, and many more.

A robot team from Yogyakarta State University (YSU) once again obtained a remarkable achievement in Indonesian Robot Contest Regional III 2016 in Imam Bardjo Auditorium, Diponegoro University Semarang on 21-23 April 2016. YSU was competing with other 30 universities in Central Java, Yogyakarta Special Province, and Kalimantan. Those teams passed the elimination stage previously in their respective province.

Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Yogyakarta State University (FMS YSU) in collaboration with the American Indonesian Exchange Foundation (AMINEF) organized a Workshop on Active Learning in the Sciences (22/4), at the courtroom of the faculty. The workshop was attended by 20 teachers from various schools in Yogyakarta, and also by 20 students. The speaker for the field of physics was Allen Price, PhD (Associate Professor at Emmanuel College Boston, USA) and for the field of biology was Ana R. Otero, Ph.D. DVM (Senior Lecturer at Emmanuel College Boston, USA).

According to a survey conducted internationally, Indonesian students did not show tremendous achievement. The analysis reveals that between 2009 – 2011, most students attending National Examination were found to have difficulties in doing the tasks which required analytical thinking. Moreover, the result of integrated National Higher Education Entrance Exam (SNMPTN) 2012 denotes that most students faced problems when answering questions in integrated Natural Science subject that demanded high analytical skill.

On Thursday (21/4/2016), international students attending BIPA (Indonesian for Non-native Speakers) course from Darmasiswa and Developing Countries Partnership (KNB) scholarship program had a field trip to Bumi Langit, Imogiri. Leading the group was Fitri Alfarisy, BIPA coordinator of Yogyakarta State University (YSU). Their visitation to Bumi Langit aimed at understanding cultural diversity while improving their skill in Bahasa Indonesia that they learnt for some months. The field trip also allowed them to learn a culture in Indonesian society.

Students of the Fashion Design Study Program of the Faculty of Engineering, Yogyakarta State University held a fashion show titled Authenticity for Human Nature (Authenture). A total of 103 students of the YSU featured the very best of their designs in this show. The event held in the YSU Auditorium was the final project of Diploma and Undergraduate students of the Department of Culinary Art and Fashion, Faculty of Engineering, YSU (19/4).