RCE Yogyakarta Facilitated the Visit of University of Groningen to SEE KKN UGM Activities

 

 

As one form of collaboration between UGM and other universities in promoting SDGs, RCE Yogyakarta facilitated the visit of University of Groningen to discuss about how to connect the rubber seed research performed by the Groningen research team including Universitas Gadjah Mada, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), and Wageningen for Central Kalimantan. Besides that, the University of Groningen wanted to connect meaningfully to KKN or UGM Student Community Service using the topics identified for the research mentioned.

Tim Zwaagstra, the representative from University of Groningen came to visit the KKN UGM activities in the summer on 1-14 July to get the opportunity of experiencing KKN from close up. After that, another representative from University of Groningen, Ad De Leeuw with 9 years in the field of higher education visited Indonesia on 21 – 26 July to meet Prof. Irfan Dwidya Prijambada, Ph.D. to talk further about the KKN activities in Tabalong, South Borneo. The purpose of the visit is:

1. To obtain a general picture of the rubber industry in the area: small and large stakeholders, infrastructure, recent developments, local government involvement and policies;
2. To discuss the research objectives as discussed earlier and obtain inputs from DPL/W and DPL (a lecturers who responsible for the KKN students in the community) and from local stakeholders about the feasibility and possible obstacles that they might face;
3. To investigate in how far there is a genuine interest in the community for the goals for this KKN project;
4. To explore research questions and methods that could lead to (joined) publications.

Nanung Agus Fitriyanto, Ph.D. as the Head of RCE Yogyakarta, accompanying Ad De Leeuw during his visit in Indonesia to Tabalong  and Kulon Progo District in Yogyakarta to see the KKN activities directly. From the visit, Nanung said it was one of the RCE Yogyakarta services in accommodating partner universities from other countries. After seeing how the KKN UGM students doing in the community, University of Groningen initiated to send their post-graduate students to UGM, to get involved directly in community services soon.