Directorate of International Education, IPB University Holds Pre-Departure Briefing for IPB Students who take part in the Student Exchange Program for the Odd Semester 2024/2025

On Thursday, July 25, 2024 the Directorate of International Education held a pre-departure briefing for students who participated in the student exchange program in the odd semester of 2024 / 2025 at partner campuses abroad. This activity was carried out in Hybrid (online and offline) and was attended by Mrs. Puji Mudiana, S.P., M.A as Director of International Education, Mrs. Alfiasari, SP., M.Si as Assistant Director of International Program Implementation, Mrs. Indri H. Fitriyani, S.P., M.Si as Assistant Director of International Education Planning and Development, Mrs. Farchaini Budi Astuti, S.P., M.M as Assistant Director of Educational Planning and Information from the Directorate of Educational Administration and attended by 94 students who attended online or offline. This activity aims to prepare IPB students before leaving and undergoing lectures and research at various partner universities abroad. Based on the data collected from the Directorate of International Education, as many as 49 students have been accepted through the IISMA (Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards) 2024 program with full funding and co-funding schemes, 15 students are accepted through the AIMS (The ASEAN International Mobility for Students) 2024 scheme, 28 students are accepted through the exchange program based on MoU (University to University), and two students are accepted in the social innovator Hub program from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). Students who will leave for the student exchange program are spread to various countries such as several countries in America and Europe, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan, and others. 

Figure 1. Remarks from Mrs. Puji Mudiana, S.P., M.A for pre-departure briefing activities for students participating in the 2023/2024 even semester student exchange.

This pre-departure briefing activity began with a speech by Mrs. Puji Mudiana, S.P. M.A, Mrs. Puji emphasized that the student exchange program is a program that can be used by students to develop knowledge, expand networking, feel the culture and academic environment that is different from the academic environment at IPB and others. Students also emphasized the importance of learning the local culture and language, not hesitating to interact with other foreign students, and reporting or updating to IPB if there is something that happens while running lectures in the destination country. Furthermore, the activity continued with a presentation related to departure preparation delivered by Mrs. Alfiasari, SP, M.Si. In her presentation, Mrs. Alfiasari emphasized that it was important to prepare academic plans both at IPB and when already at partner universities abroad. In addition, she also emphasized the things that need to be prepared before departure such as acceptance letter (LoA), scholarship notification letter, passport and passport copy, visa, airplane tickets, sufficient funds, address and contact person of the partner university that will be used to communicate related to pick-up in the destination country, dormitory, and so on. In addition, he also explained some suggestions for overcoming culture shock in a foreign country, such as actively attending various activities on campus and off campus, trying to interact a lot with local people and learn the culture and language of the destination country, joining PPI (Indonesian Student Association), and always maintaining communication with friends and family in Indonesia. 

Exposure related to academic provisions for students who will go on student exchange odd semester 2024/2025

Through this activity, students were also explained related to academic provisions in the implementation of student exchange presented by Mrs. Farchaini Budi Astuti, S.P., M.M.. In her presentation, she conveyed the procedures for filling out KRS and converting courses obtained from the student exchange program. She emphasized that it is important to pay attention to academic activities both before leaving abroad and after the program is completed. Pre exchange activities that students must do before leaving such as students still have to pay SPP (Payment Approval Letter) and fill in KRS in accordance with applicable regulations. As for post-exchange activities that students must do after completing the program such as reporting activities to the Department and driving lecturers, reporting credits obtained from the exchange activities, and converting or equalizing credits taken from student exchange activities that have been carried out. This activity ended with a question and answer session and a group photo.