ULM Bridges Two Higher Education Consortiums to Build Cooperation to Encourage International Collaboration
Makassar – A total of 57 campuses that are members of the State Universities consortium in Eastern Indonesia (KTI) are building collaboration with the Universiti Universitas Borneo (KUUB) consortium which will take place in Makssar 2 – 4 March 2024. Rector of Lambung Mangkurat University (ULM) Prof. Dr. Ahmad Alim Bachri, SE., M.Si as Chair of PTN-KTI for the 2023 – 2025 Period and The Consortium of Eastern Indonesia State Universities (Ceisu) played an active role in the realization of the meeting which resulted in the Joint Declaration between PTN-KTI and KUUB.
Prof. Ahmad in his speech also expressed his thanks and appreciation for organizing activities carried out by Hasanuddin University (Unhas). According to him, this meeting was an initial and strategic step for all universities in eastern Indonesia. Because higher education development can be optimized through regional and international cooperation networks. “In the Eastern region of Indonesia, Unhas is a university that is considered for its various achievements. I hope Unhas can help other universities to operate optimally. “For this reason, we can optimize this activity together,” explained Prof. Ahmad.
Meanwhile, the Rector of Unhas Prof. Dr. Ir. Jamaluddin Jompa, M.Sc in his speech at this meeting expressed his pleasure and appreciation for the presence of the delegation of higher education leaders at Unhas. He said that this activity was a strategic step and was expected to have a significant impact on the progress of education in eastern Indonesia.
Prof. Jamaluddin emphasized the importance of synergy between higher education institutions in facing the challenges of the times, because only through close and sustainable collaboration can the vision to improve the quality of Indonesian education be achieved optimally. “This activity was initiated as a forum for in-depth discussion to strengthen collaboration in improving the quality of education in the eastern region Indonesia. This is a concrete step towards educational standards. “This activity is also a platform that allows academics to formulate strategies to increase research collaboration,” he explained.
In general, this activity is a form of follow-up to the results of the 2023 Eastern Indonesia (KTI) State Universities Consortium Working Meeting and the 2024 KTI LPPM PTN Forum Meeting in Banjarmasin.
In a series of these activities, a collaboration was also signed between KPTN-KTI and KUUB (Consortium Universiti Universitas Borneo), namely a consortium of PTs from three countries on BORNEO Island (Brunei, Indonesia-Malaysia) and attended by three Rectors from Brunei Darussalam, eight Rectors from Malaysia and five Rectors from Indonesia/Kalimantan.
Regarding the LPPM workshop which was also held as a series of meetings in Makassar, the delegates who attended discussed together strategic efforts to encourage the quality of research in higher education.
Chairman of KUUB Prof. Dr. Sahrul Razid Sarbini said that his party appreciated this activity, because this activity was a forum for building a strong collaborative network between universities in encouraging the development of the Tridharma of Higher Education. Not only that, he said, there are also many things that the delegates present can collaborate on to move together to advance higher education.
The following universities are participating in KUUB activities (16 universities/universities), namely
three Brunei Universities, namely Brunei Darussalam University, Sultan Sharif Ali Islamic University and Brunei Technology University
Eight Malaysian campuses namely, Curtin University Malaysia, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Universiti Putra Malaysia- Bintulu Campus, Sarawak, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Sarawak, Universiti Teknologi MARA Cawangan Sabah and University of Technology Sarawak
The Indonesian polytechnic universities present were Unhas, UNM, Mulawarman University (Unmul) Samarinda, Palangkaraya University, Lambung Mangkurat University, Borneo Tarakan University (UBT), Kalimantan Institute of Technology (ITK), and Pattimura University Ambon.
