16 June 2022

AUN-QA Courtesy Visit to Indonesia Series #1: Universitas Gadjah Mada

By
Patitin Lertnaikiat
AUN Programme Officer;

The AUN-QA Courtesy Visit began on 29 May 2022 where the AUN-QA team flew from Thailand to Indonesia. The purpose of the visit was to celebrate the longstanding partnerships and collaborations with some of our partnered universities in Indonesia. Upon arrival in the country, the team immediately proceeded to travel to its first destination, visiting Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) in Yogyakarta, famed for being one of the largest and oldest higher education institutions in Indonesia.

UGM and AUN-QA have been in partnership for many years. The university has had its programmes assessed by AUN-QA 16 times for a result of over 50 programmes in total over the course of the partnership. Ever since the pandemic began, assessment had been conducted online for two years. The on-site visit to UGM marked another step in our goal for returning to on-site assessments.

AUN-QA Visit to UGM 1.jpg

The Courtesy Visit took place in one of UGM’s conference rooms. The AUN-QA team was greeted by the rectors, program directors, and the UGM-QA team. The core of the meeting was to discuss the ongoing fruitful partnerships between AUN-QA and UGM. The meeting started with noteworthy updates from the university on matters such as the newly appointed rector at UGM, Prof. Dr. Ova Emilia, the university’s curriculum adjustments due to the pandemic, and the university’s future plans going forward post-pandemic.

Further in the meeting, the discussions shifted towards quality assurance. Feedback about the process of the programme assessments were made, and AUN-QA will be taking the important information to make further improvements. The team also inquired about the current situation of the pandemic, and currently many activities are still hybrid between online and offline. However, UGM is also pushing forward with returning more on-site operations. During this time, the team also took the opportunity to inform UGM about upcoming AUN events of interests, notably:

  1. The AUN-QA Training Course for Accomplishing Programme Assessment
  2. Online Workshop on Writing Self-Assessment Report (SAR) for Successful AUN-QA Programme Assessment (Version 4.0)
  3. AUN-QA International Conference
  4. Global University Associations Forum (GUAF)
  5. Onsite AUN-QA Assessment at Programme Level
  6. Measuring and Comparing Achievements of Learning Outcomes in Higher Education in Asia (CALOHEA)

The UGM team voiced their interests in some of the aforementioned events that will bolster international relations such as the Global University Associations Forum and the AUN-QA International Conference.

AUN-QA Visit to UGM 2.jpg

Soon after some courteous small talk, gifts were exchanged and group photos were taken to commemorate the special event. The AUN-QA team would like to convey its high appreciation to UGM for such warm welcome and insightful discussion throughout the Courtesy Visit.

With the first visit complete, the AUN-QA team starts preparing for the next task in the Courtesy Visit. So stay tuned for next week, where the AUN-QA team heads out from Yogyakarta to depart to Surabaya to visit Universitas Surabaya (UBAYA).