7th Series P2P VPL in Engineering Fields: Studying, Career and Living in Canada: Opportunities and Challenges

Virtual Public Lectures (VPL) in Engineering Fields enters its 7th series on Saturday, November 7, 2020. The 7th VPL series presents the topic “Studying, Career and Living in Canada: Opportunities and Challenges”. The topic was delivered by Hendra Hermawan, an Indonesian diaspora who works at Laval University, Quebec, Canada. Besides him as a speaker, there are also Dr. Widyastuti S.Si., M.Si. as moderator. At 08.11 WIB, Hendra Hermawan began to explain his material.

At the beginning of the material presentation session, Hendra explained a little about his work at Laval University. After that, he began explaining the steps for studying in Canada. Hendra explained that various kinds of information on educational opportunities in Canada were collected on one website, namely www.educanada.ca. The information on the website includes scholarship offers, the atmosphere of life in Canada, and the programs that are being offered.

He also mentioned Canada’s cold situation and very far from Indonesia. This is more or less a challenge that must be faced by Indonesians when studying or working in Canada. After briefly mentioning Canada’s climate and geography situation, Hendra explained how to apply for the Ph.D. in Canada until the lecture process. Due to his profession as a lecturer, Hendra also shared his experiences as a lecturer at Laval University, starting from the process of applying for work to the workload that must be carried out.

At the end of the presentation session, Hendra gave a little explanation about the sources of research funding in Canada. From what he said, there are grant institutions at the federal and provincial levels that can provide research funding assistance. This information was the closing session of the material delivery at that time.

After the material delivery session was over, the event was continued with a question and answer session at exactly 09.15 WIB. Some of the participants gave Hendra questions via the chatroom. The questions given relate to the atmosphere of learning, the quality of education, to work while studying in Canada. There is 1 question from Riadini Wanty Lubis from UMSU. He asked, “How long did it take for you (Hendra) to adapt to the curriculum in Canada when he started his doctoral program?” Hendra explained that the curriculum used in Canada is not much different from the curriculum in Indonesia. According to him, the adjustment process that is more difficult is the adjustment of language in which he who is not used to using a foreign language must adjust to the language used on campus, namely French.

Because the time has shown at 10.00 WIB, question and answer session was stopped. The 7th VPL Series also entered the end of the event. The VPL in Engineering Fields committee also gave a certificate of appreciation for Hendra’s active participation as a speaker which was submitted virtually through a PowerPoint presentation.

Mohammad Syaroni Syawaludin as the MC invited all participants, committee, and presenters to take pictures together to capture the 7th VPL series moments. Unfortunately, not all participants were able to view the video due to situation and connection constraints.

The event was closed by providing information by the MC about the dissemination competition which was held in conjunction with a series of P2P VPL events (for more information, can be accessed here). If you haven’t had the opportunity to take part in the 7th VPL series, the recording of the event can be watched on the ITS Global Engagement YouTube channel and if you are interested in taking part in the next VPL series, keep an eye on ITS Global Engagement social media.