Mataram, Universitas Mataram – Universitas Mataram (Unram) through the Master of Education Administration Program (MAP) collaborated with an international seminar with Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI), Malaysia. This seminar was held on 26-27 September 2022 in Tanjong Malim, Malaysia. In this activity, the Unram group was represented by the Postgraduate Director of Unram, namely Prof. Ir. H. Muhammad Sarjan, M.Agr.CP., Ph.D. He brought with him 51 students of the Master of Education Administration led directly by Dr. H. Sudirman, M.Pd. as the Head of the Study Program.

This seminar was conducted in a hybrid manner, namely online and offline. The online seminar was conducted through an online streaming platform and broadcast live on Facebook FMSP UPSI, so this seminar was also attended by Unram students in Indonesia. Meanwhile, offline this seminar was conducted at the Cultural Stage, Art Faculty Music Complex and UPSI Offerings, precisely in Tanjong Malim, Perak, Malaysia and was attended directly by UPSI students of master’s programs and undergraduate programs.

The core seminar was opened by the Dean of the Upsi Music and Art Faculty, Prof. Madya Dr. Muhammad Fazli Taib bin Saerarani. In his remarks, he hoped that there would be a return to the visit from UPSI to Unram, as well as the hope from the Unram Postgraduate Director that there would be an agreed follow-up, among others, to carry out an international joint seminar together between Unram and UPSI in Sibu City, Serawak, Malaysia in 2023.

On the first day, students presented the results of their research. 6 students became presenters consisting of 5 Unram students and 1 UPSI student. Students from Unram presented a hot issue in the field of Indonesian Education today, namely the Merdeka Belajar curriculum. The aim is to introduce the Indonesian Education system to UPSI students who are international students so that they can get to know more about the education system used in Indonesia. Meanwhile, 1 presenter from UPSI presented material on instrument validation which also provided insights for research in the world of education.

The second day of activities was filled with presentations from experts in the world of education, including material on research in the world of education delivered by Prof. Dr. Mohd Hassan bin Abdullah, the material on management in the world of education by Professor Emeritus Dr. Omar bin Abdull Kareem, and material on educational technology by Dr. Jessnor Elmy binti Mat Jizat.

The series of this program is Edutour to the National Child Development Research Centre (NCDRC UPSI), the UPSI National Museum, the UPSI Tuanku Bainun Library, the UPSI Digital Library, the ICT Center, and several faculties at UPSI including the Music and Offering Faculty (FMSP) and the Management and Economics Faculty (FPE). The visit was intended to add to students’ references regarding educational technology and management in education, because students directly saw and felt campus life at UPSI, especially enjoying the facilities at UPSI.

This activity is expected to provide many benefits for all circles, both students, lecturers, institutions and of course for the development of science itself.

“This kind of activity is very important and very useful to open students’ insights, through this program students can recognize the latest educational facilities and infrastructure, feel the academic atmosphere abroad, and of course can be a means of looking for opportunities to continue the doctoral or S3 program at UPSI, and vice versa, UPSI students can continue their studies at Unram,” said the Director of Postgraduate Unram, Prof. Ir. H. Muhammad Sarjan, M.Agr.CP., Ph.D.

He added that this kind of program is expected to strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in the field of research, publication and development of institutions, as well as exchanges of teaching staff between the two universities. Meanwhile, the Head of the Master of Education Administration Study Program at the University of Mataram, Dr. H. Sudirman, M.Pd. revealed several points of the importance of this program.

“First, the overseas PKL Program is very important to achieve unram’s vision and mission to become an international standard university in 2025. Second, this program is a form of collaboration between UPSI and Unram postgraduate students in the academic field, namely joining seminars, exchanging educational information and other things. Third, this program enriches the treasures of educational administration knowledge at the national and international levels, and finally this program adds to international academic experience and is a program that must be followed by Unram Postgraduate students in each batch. Seeing the importance of implementation and the results obtained from this program, it is very important to continue to be implemented,” explained Dr. Sudirman.

This program can be carried out thanks to the results of initiative and intensive communication between the Head of the Master of Education Administration Study Program unram and one of the UPSI lecturers, namely Dr. Salman Alfarisi. Previously, this program had begun with the signing of a Letter of Intention (LoI) between the Postgraduate Director of Unram and the Director of the UPSI International Mobility Center, Assoc. Prof. Zaharul Lailiddin. This program followed up with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Rector of UPSI and the Rector of Unram which will be implemented in November 2022.