Develop Student Interdisciplinary Insights through the Summer Course

Universitas Brawijaya (UB) together with the Bogor Agricultural Institute (IPB), and Wageningen University (WUR), the Netherlands work together to hold a summer course which is held at the UB Faculty of Animal Science (Fapet). The activity was carried out on Tuesday (15/8/2023) and Friday (18/8/2023) and was attended by 53 participants from various universities. Such as Universiti Putra Malaysia, Bintulu Sarawak campus, Thai Nguyen of Agriculture and Forestry, Universiti Malaysia Trengganu, International Islamic University Malaysia, USA, UB, and IPB.

Head of International Relations Office (IRO) Fapet UB, Prof. V.M. Ani Nurgiartiningsih revealed that UB, IPB, and WUR are three leading institutions in the fields of agriculture, agricultural technology, and animal husbandry in Southeast Asia and Europe.Because of the different cultural and educational background then when synergized will result in a broader perspective in the approach to agricultural and animal husbandry challenges. Excellence in tropical agriculture, IPB in nutrition, and WUR in modern agricultural technology.

Collaborative exchange of this knowledge can be done through cooperation with combined resources and experience of each university to address complex problems. Like resilience to food, agricultural efficiency, and animal welfare. So that provides students with opportunities to study in a variety of contexts and cultures,develop collaborative skills and deep understanding of global challenges. 

Besides that, successful inter-university cooperation can enhance the reputation of each tertiary institution at a global level, expanding international networks, and attracting interest from students, researchers, and obtaining new funding.

“One try attract foreign students to fulfill related faculty contract fulfillment of the Main Performance Indicators (IKU) then a summer course program was created which became initiating the collaboration of these three universities.” said Prof. Ani

“Hopefully the summer course will attract more foreign students to study at UB.” she continued

Benefits for summer course participants include getting experience receiving lectures from WUR professors,students can mutually develop themselves through communication and exchange of cultural stories, building strong academic networks, developing interdisciplinary insights, and having the opportunity to collaborate on joint research.

In addition to material from the experts, the participants were invited to a field trip to visit the SAE Dairy Cooperative in Pujon and the Sumber Makmur Village Unit Cooperative (KUD) in Ngantang, Malang Regency. (dta)