Yogyakarta—Universitas Islam Indonesia’s (UII) International Relations Study Program (PSHI) organized the 2023 Inspiring Fair at the university’s Prof. K.H. Abdulkahar Mudzakkir Auditorium on Saturday, 17 June 2023.

The event brought in the Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia, Dr. Zuhair Al Shun, to speak at the Ambassadorial Lecture session titled “Muslim Youth and Diplomacy”.

A Career Talk session followed the seminar, with a panel of experts coming from various backgrounds. They were creativepreneur Danang Giri Sadewa; PSHI alumni and Field Facilitator for the IOM-UN Migration 2021-2023, Muhammad Hidayat Hasan; and PSHI alumni and staff at the Indonesian Regional Representative Council (DPR-RI), Najla Indah Annisa.

Most of the attendees were senior high school (SMA) students planning for their future career.

UII Rector Prof. Fathul Wahid, ST., M.Sc., Ph.D. told the attendees in his opening remarks that the eager and willingness to study diligently would broaden perspective. “Consistency in learning will lead to continuous development of our potentials. These potentials then lead to improved skills that make us more flexible in various contexts,” he said.

“It’s true that we are planning for our future. But we don’t know where it will end, at which port we will dock,” the rector said.

Prof. Fathul Wahid went on to say that any future we ended up with would bring benefits if they provide positive impacts to the society. “Every future is a role that we must play. Insya Allah [God willing], it will spread benefits and leave a good footprint in society, both at home and abroad,” he said.

“It’s our role as a human to play our part. Insya Allah, if we do it right and wholeheartedly, it will benefit not only ourselves, but also many other people,” he added.

During the Ambassadorial Lecture, Dr. Zuhair Al Shun said that diplomacy played a strategic role in facilitating the achievement of agreements. “Diplomacy is a very significant and important topic. Ideologies in the world that achieve their goals are those that prepare themselves well in diplomacy,” the ambassador said.

Dr. Zuhair Al Shun elaborated that diplomacy came in many forms, such as diplomacy to reduce or minimize conflict, war diplomacy, dollar diplomacy, general diplomacy, popular diplomacy, economic diplomacy, and electronic or technological diplomacy.

He praised Indonesia for successfully implementing its diplomacy. This is evident, for example, in scholarship offerings for Palestinians that are a result of diplomacy in the education sector.

“Indonesia diplomatized in the education sector actively and in a unified manner with Palestine,” he said. “We now see lots of Indonesian university scholarships are offered to Palestinian students.”

Dr. Zuhair Al Shun encouraged students to continue learning, saying that the younger generation is one of the keys to advancing the nation’s success. “The youth is a crucial generation as it will become the driver of the nation’s advancements,” he said.

Career Opportunities for International Relations Alumni 

During the Career Talk session, Muhammad Hidayat Hasan gave tips for the high school attendees to find the right career path. “Know your talents,” he said. “From now on, you must know your passion and what you would like to do.”

The second panelist, Najla Indah Annisa, said that competency, integrity and conviction were qualities required to achieve success.

“You should become an individual that is competent and equipped with the right skills, willing to learn, reliable, knowledgeable,” she said. “And all this go hand in hand with integrity. Because, without integrity, they mean nothing.”

Similarly, Danang Giri Sadewa said that understanding one’s passion was key to achieving a successful career. “To be happy in what you do, you must do things you are passionate about,” he said.

“Data shows that 87 percent students chose the wrong program study. Once this happens, it will be difficult to perform. You then procrastinate. Therefore, the first thing to do is to find your passion,” he emphasized.

In addition, to pursue education and career properly, Danang Giri Sadewa said it was necessary to determine priorities. “There is something called a priority scale quadrant. Using this, we can see what is important, what is less important, what is urgent, and what is less urgent,” he said. (VIP Magazine Vol 10)

Yogyakarta—Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) students continue to increase their international mobility by taking part in global academic events. This time, 13 UII Pharmacy students took part in the 2023 University of Rhode Island (URI) summer excursion in Yogyakarta along with 13 URI students from the United States. Read more

Yogyakarta—The Pharmacy Study Program of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences (FMIPA) of Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) received an award from the Indonesian World Records Museum (MURI) for planting 1,400 habbatussauda (black cumin) seeds. Read more

Yogyakarta—The Architecture Major of Universitas Islam Indonesia’s (UII) Faculty of Civil Engineering and Planning (FTSP) has again received international recognition. Read more

Yogyakarta—To improve public understanding of contemporary issues through a popular science approach, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) and The Conversation Indonesia (TCID) has launched a TCID office in UII’s Main Campus in Yogyakarta.

With this launch, UII has become a pioneer university in Indonesia that facilitates the presence of TCID in a higher education environment. The launch ceremony took place in the Theatrical Room of UII’s Prof. Dr. Sardjito Building on Thursday, 11 May 2023, and was attended by the university’s leadership and students.

The launch of TCID office in UII was followed by a public discussion themed “Is Identity Politics Still Relevant in the 2024 Elections Campaign on Social Media?”. Attending as speakers were Ismail Fahmi, Ph.D., Rizki Dian Nursita, M.H.I, Wawan Mas’udi, SIP., MPA., Ph.D., and Shafiq Pontoh.

UII Rector Prof. Fathul Wahid, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D., said in his welcome speech that it was critical to embrace scientific development through public discussions. “Insya Allah [God willing], this positive cooperation will become an important milestone for both parties to jointly express ideas that are important for opening healthy discussions and educating the public,” the rector said.

“Specifically, collaboration with campuses is also expected to enable information related to scientific developments to be heard more loudly in public spaces and make campus residents ready to become public intellectuals,” Prof. Fathul Wahid added.

Prof. Fathul Wahid went on saying that facts and data were the main keys that form the basis of opinions. “This is very important to maintain and improve the public’s scientific temper and attitude. One of the ways is to raise awareness of the importance of data or facts that underlie every choice of attitude or opinion,” he added.

The rector explained that difference was the color of diversity. “Differences should not create division. The opposite of difference is equality, while the negation of division is unity. Differences are not synonymous with divisions. Differences in identity are social factors and are sunnatullah [God’s rules],” he said.

Prof. Fatful Wahid hoped us to always instill equality values in every action. “It is necessary to imbue our actions with great values, such as equality among the nation’s children regardless of their background,” he concluded.

Meanwhile, TCID CEO/Publisher Prodita Kusuma Sabarini said in her remarks that The Conversation Indonesia was a media that aimed to disseminate science to the public. “We put efforts to bring science into the community, and we therefore always try to get closer to the science community in Indonesia,” she said.

Prodita Kusuma Sabarini expressed her pleasure with the two institutions’ cooperation. “We are very happy that when we conveyed the idea of The Conversation Indonesia’s cooperation as a house partner for UII, the university was very welcoming and opened its doors,” she said.

“Now, we have an office here and are even closer to the academic communities in Yogyakarta,” Prodita added.

Prodita was optimistic that public discussions in the future would prioritize factual literature and evidence. “We believe we can strengthen the quality of public discussions in Indonesia, so that public discussions will be truly based on research and facts,” she said.

Finally, Prodita expressed her hopes from the cooperation. “We hope that The Conversation Indonesia’s new office in Yogyakarta, at UII—and we would like to call it our new home, our shared home—can become our place to be involved in the public discussion process that can further what Prof. Fathul said earlier [scientific temper] among the public in Indonesia,” she concluded. (VIP Magazine Vol 10)