(June, 6th 2022) International Office of Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa University (PELITA) presented Dr. Alex Lechner, an Australian Associate Professor and landscape ecologist, as a speaker at the Visiting Scholar themed “Global Business and Sustainability”, followed by a Guest Lecture entitled “Weaving Teacher and Researching: Going Beyond the ‘Local Academics’ stigma” on Monday (6/06). /2022) at the Integrated Lecture Building, Untirta Sindangsari’s Campus. The event was opened by the Rector of Untirta, Prof. Dr. Ir. H. Fatah Sulaiman, ST, MT. as he stated this is the first time PELITA has held it face-to-face since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two events are a form of implementation of the signing of the MoU and cooperation agreement by Untirta, Monash University Australia, and Monash University Indonesia on January 19, 2022 ago. Therefore, the Head of International Office, Dr. Udi Samanhudi, Ph. D ensures that this event will become a regular agenda to support knowledge exchange, develop insight, build perspectives, and increase the self-confidence of Untirta students and lecturers.
“Through sharing like this, hopefully the knowledge of students and lecturers will be more developed. Mindset or the way we see things we try to synchronize. What we still lack, we enrich with what they already have. If you have been exposed to many people from various backgrounds, we hope that students have a better perspective. The more we bring in lecturers from abroad who are credible from high-ranking campuses, the confidence of students and lecturers will also increase.” Obviously Udi.
“The implementation of the Guest Lecture and Visiting Scholar activities this time is a sub-program of Global Academic Mobility (GOAL) in the form of packaging and branding programs and strategies aimed at providing an international outlook as well as increasing experience and academic networks to Untirta as an institution and all its academics.” stated Eko Supriyanto, S.Kom., MM., M.Ak as the Sub Coordinator of Program, Partnership, and PLI Administration. Global Academic Mobility (GOAL) itself is one of the ‘Panca Pelita’ namely the five main programs of PLI Untirta as part of implementing the internationalization acceleration program.
The Guest Lecture was attended by lecturers from each faculty at Untirta. The Visiting Scholar was attended by dozens of students from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) and the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP) Untirta. Based on Udi’s statements, FEB students were presented because they studied fields of science that were relevant to the topics discussed. Meanwhile, FKIP students, such as English Language Education, came with an interest in learning English, especially directly from native speakers. Responding to the extraordinary enthusiasm of the participants, PELITA admitted that they would soon invite academics from the University of Nottingham for the next Guest Lecture.
Dr. Alex Lechner, who is currently working at Monash University Indonesia, said he was impressed by the enthusiasm of the students and lecturers who were responsive and active in asking questions. “It was a really exciting day. Both the students and lecturers were very dynamic, engaged, and interesting. I had lots of excellent questions and I generally had a lot of fun, so I’d be happy to do it again.” He smiled.
Regarding the topic he presented, Alex thought that lecturers and students, especially the younger generation, had a big role in voicing the dangers of climate change and the biodiversity crisis to the community. As the people who know and are most aware of this issue, Alex recommends students to act as leaders or agents of change so that they are able to communicate this issue even if it is in a small circle of family and friends. Meanwhile, he hopes that lecturers as researchers can intensify research in this field.
“I think both academics and students have a really important role in terms of communication and 1-on-1 with family and friends in order to communicate this big issue and how important they are. I think as students in their future jobs, they can look for roles where they can be leaders, where they can be change makers, where they can address this climate change and biodiversity impact. As a researcher, there’s a huge opportunity. We need a lot more research and information. So researchers have a huge role to play as change makers and leaders.” Obviously.
Alex assesses that dramatic changes related to climate change and the biodiversity crisis will occur in the next 10, 20, even 30 years, accompanied by new opportunities. He hopes that young students and lecturers can open themselves up to this change and opportunity because they will be the ones who will feel the impact.
“I hope Indonesian academics reflect on and take the perspective that Indonesia is indeed one of the key places where these challenges are around climate change, biodiversity, and socioeconomic development. So Indonesian academics have a key role in working in this area. So what I hope they do is take this perspective that western academics view Indonesia as this place where they’d love to research and love to do work. It’s an exciting place, dynamic place. I hope Indonesian researchers realize that.” he concluded. (SAC/ AAP/ VDF)