Universitas Indonesia (UI) further strengthens its position as the best university in Indonesia by intensifying and strengthening international cooperation. In an intensive trip for six days (11/27-2/12), the UI group was led by Prof. Dr. Dedi Priadi, DEA, Vice Rector for Human Resources and Assets UI. Not only visited the University of California Berkeley (UCB) and the University of California Davis (UCD), but also expanded the scope of research and educational cooperation with the two leading universities in the United States.
Prof. Dedi, accompanied by Dean of Faculty of Engineering (FT) UI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, S.T., M.Eng., IPU., and Dr. Munawar Khalil, Director of Research and Development UI. “The ‘Scholars Engagement Program for Natural Resources-Based Research and Innovation’ at FTUI, which is fully funded by the Deposit Insurance Corporation (LPS), has been successfully running for the past year with UCB. We plan to expand this cooperation in the future by expanding the scope of cooperation. In addition, UI and UC Davis are exploring the possibility of cooperation with similar schemes,” said Prof. Dedi.
One of the main agendas of the visit was benchmarking science techno park (STP) activities. In line with this, the UI delegation visited Berkeley SkyDeck, an accelerator and technology incubator institution at UCB, and SCET UCB, an academic center in UCB’s School of Engineering where engineers and scientists gather to innovate, manufacture, and commercialize their technology products.
When visiting UCD on Thursday (30/11), the UI delegation was welcomed by Richard L. Corsi, Dean of the College of Engineering. The discussion went warmly regarding exploring the possibility of establishing educational and research cooperation between UI and UCB in the future.
Prof. Heri said, “FTUI and UCD discussed the potential collaboration of double degree programs for undergraduate and master students, sending visiting professors from UCD to UI, and joint supervision for doctoral program students. This initiative aims to improve the quality of FTUI’s international programs by involving leading university partners.”
Prof. Dedi also revealed an offer from UCD to send three of UI’s best researchers as research ambassadors to conduct joint research at UCD. This is in line with the spirit of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which funds this activity through the Project Promoting Research and Innovation through Modern and Efficient Science and Techno Park (PRIMESTEP). The PRIMESTEP project is channeled through the Ministry of Education and Culture to establish a Science Techno Park at UI and 3 other major universities.
In addition to exploring the potential of two top universities in the United States, the UI group also took the time to meet with the Indonesian Consulate General in San Francisco and meet face to face with four UI students who were participating in the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program at UCD.
It is hoped that this visit will not only provide insight into best practices in the development of science and technology, but also build strong partnerships with UCB and UCD. This collaboration is expected to produce joint research, knowledge exchange, and innovation to support the development of UI as a research university and make a significant contribution to the advancement of science and technology, both at the regional and global levels.
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Office of Public Communication, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Indonesia
