The Directorate of Community Service at Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) has received a visit from their partner university to discuss the initiation of an international collaborative Community Service and Community Empowerment program (KKN-PPM). During this visit, Assoc. Prof. Yas Sugawara, Ph.D. from Yamagata University, Japan, was welcomed by the Head of the Subdirectorate for Real Work Lectures at DPkM, Nanung Agus Fitriyanto, S.Pt., M.Sc., Ph.D., along with two professors from UGM’s Faculty of Agriculture, Prof. Ir. Achmadi Priyatmojo, M.Sc., Ph.D., and Prof. Ir. Irfan Dwidya Prijambada, M.Eng., Ph.D., on Thursday, February 23rd, at the DPkM Meeting Room.
In brief, Prof. Sugawara expressed his interest in the KKN-PPM program at UGM and intended to send students from four universities in Yamagata Prefecture, Japan, to experience community service in collaboration with UGM students. DPkM UGM welcomed the plan, and after some discussions and considerations, both parties agreed to hold the collaborative KKN between Universitas Gadjah Mada and Yamagata University next year, during the first period in March 2024, for a duration of two weeks.
The Head of UGM’s KKN Subdirectorate expressed during the discussion that UGM welcomes the international collaboration with partner universities in the form of this KKN program. He also explained the technical aspects and administrative requirements that foreign students must fulfill to participate in KKN-PPM at UGM. “We are delighted with the involvement of international students in the implementation of KKN-PPM at UGM. They will stay with residents at the KKN location for about two weeks. There is no need to worry about the local language and culture as UGM students will also be there to face any barriers that may arise,” he said.
In addition, Prof. Ir. Irfan Dwidya Prijambada, M.Eng., Ph.D., who was also a former Director of Community Service at UGM, mentioned that the participation of Japanese students in KKN-PPM at UGM is not new. Previously, students from Shizuoka University participated in the first period of KKN in 2019. “If Yamagata students can join in the second period of KKN, it will be better because there will be more UGM students from various disciplines participating,” he explained. This was mentioned by Prof. Irfan, considering that the first period of KKN is mostly taken by medical faculty students who cannot participate in the second period.
The meeting concluded with the exchange of business cards for further online discussions. Everyone present at the meeting expressed their gratitude and bid farewell in fluent Japanese as all four of them happened to be alumni of well-known universities in Japan.”
