For the first time, the Sepuluh Nopember Institute of Technology (ITS) held online graduation in the midst of a pandemic. The 121st ITS Graduation Ceremony was held on Sunday, August 2, 2020, through one type of virtual game, namely Minecraft.

The existence of a pandemic has caused the 121st Graduation event to only be held online. ITS YouTube channel also broadcasts the graduation procession. The opening of the graduation was demonstrated by game characters who represented the students attending the graduation. The Head of the Application Integration Implementation Section, Hadziq Fabroyir, S. Kom., Ph. D., together with his team decided to make a virtual building from Gedung Graha Sepuluh Nopember ITS using Minecraft Education Edition to celebrate ITS graduation which was supposed to be held in March 2020.

The use of Minecraft Education Edition can be done because ITS has subscribed to this application, and in the future, it can be used for various things such as graduation, learning, and others. This is also done to increase its utility.

The process of making this virtual game takes approximately 1 month. For operation, communication between players (participants) who joined the Minecraft ITS Graduation Process was carried out via Discord. Zoom is used to receive a video feed from the OBS Virtual Camera which is transmitted from the Minecraft ITS server.

Dr. Emil Elestianto Dardak, M.Sc., as the Deputy Governor of East Java Province, also appreciated by giving a speech at the 121th ITS Graduation online. Famous comedian Lies Hartono or known as Cak Lontong and national television presenter Brigita Manohara also congratulated and motivated all the graduates who had come online.

A total of 570 students from the Faculty of Civil, Planning, and Geo-Engineering (FTSPK), the Faculty of Marine Technology (FTK), and the Faculty of Creative Design and Digital Business (FDKBD) carried out an online graduation procession from their respective residences while wearing graduation gowns and clothes.

Meanwhile, ITS leaders attended the graduation procession offline at the ITS Research Center (RC) Building while still paying attention to applicable health protocols. Of the three faculties that carried out this hybrid graduation, there were some of the best graduates.

Namely I Dewa Made Alit, Employee of Civil Engineering, I Made Wahyu Wijaya from Environmental Engineering who managed to become the best graduate of the Doctoral Program on the second day of the 121st ITS Graduation with a GPA of 3.97 and a length of study of 7 semesters and won the Cumlaude predicate.

Meanwhile, the Master’s Program, Made Widya Jayantari from Civil Engineering won the Cumlaude predicate and made him the best graduate with a GPA of 4 in three semesters. Then the best graduate of the Undergraduate Program was Kurniawan Sugianto, a Civil Engineering student with a GPA of 3.85 with a study period of seven semesters and won the Cumlaude Predicate.

In addition, there is also Bobby Ardiansyamiraja, a Bidikmisi student from Business Management who succeeded in becoming an inspirational graduate by successfully publishing five Scopus indexed scientific journals in just a year.

Although carried out online, ITS Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Ir. Mochamad Ashari, M.Eng. who led the procession was optimistic that the implementation of this graduation could treat the missed moment when studying at ITS was postponed due to many considerations on March 15.

Regarding the next semester or odd semester that will be held online, the ITS chancellor revealed that the 122nd ITS Graduation could later be carried out offline or back online, depending on the current development conditions.