In the current modern era, studying abroad is not something impossible. The opportunity was successfully achieved by three students of Universitas Dian Nuswantoro (Udinus) by passing the Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) program.

Arley Japardi, Rizky Saputra, and Salma Hannunisa are students from the Faculty of Computer Science (FIK) Udinus, who will attend lectures at three different universities. Two students from the Udinus Informatics Engineering Bachelor Program, Arley Japardi will study at the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan and Rizky Saputra will study at Mahidol University, Thailand. Meanwhile, students from the Bachelor of Visual Communication Design Program will study at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand.

The three students who are familiarly called Arley, Rizky, and Salma managed to pass both stages and were declared as IISMA Awardees. As the Awardee, they will not only conduct lectures but will be given challenges aimed at increasing the understanding of the country's cultural diversity. Great support was also given by Udinus from their registration to passing the IISMA program according to Salma Hannunisa.

"The team from the Udinus International Affairs Office (KUI), including lecturers at FIK Udinus have helped a lot. In addition, their support for us all this time has been incredible," Salma said during an interview.

Salma's departure to Prince of Songkia University, Thailand, became her dream since she was a child to study abroad. She was also grateful for the IISMA program initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek). Through this program, Indonesian students to study abroad are now wide open.

“I have been trying to register for the IISMA program since the 4th semester but unfortunately it has not been provided. My efforts finally paid off after trying to register again in semester 6, where the program will be implemented in semester 7," said Salma.

Valuable Experiences

One of the flagship programs of Kampus Merdeka invites students to spend approximately 1 semester studying abroad. In participating in the IISMA program, students must take the selection stage such as academic GPA, English Proficiency Test score, and several other supporting documents. After successfully passing the selection stage, students are required to follow the selection stage using the English language.

Head of the Bureau of International Cooperation and Affairs (KUI) Udinus, Dr. Ir. Dwi Eko Waluyo, M.M. also congratulated the three Udinsu students who managed to qualify for the IISMA in 2024.

“The experience they will attain is going to be a very valuable lesson for them. We hope they can absorb the knowledge as well as possible, "he hoped. (Udinus Public Relation/Alex. Photo: PR Udinus)