The ranks of ITS leaders and the Surigao State College of Technology leaders took a picture together after the MoU was successfully signed

ITS Campus, ITS News – Cooperation is one of the routine programs conducted by the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) to expand its network in developing itself. One of them, ITS embraced the Surigao State College of Technology (SSCT) Philippines which was marked by the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the ITS Rectorate, Tuesday (28/5).

ITS Chancellor Prof. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng said this cooperation was the result of activities that had been initiated last year. At that time, one of the SSCT delegates took part in the CommTECH program held by the ITS Directorate of International Relations or International Office (IO). In this activity, the SSCT delegation was invited to visit to see mangroves in Surabaya. “So that finally they were interested and this year, the SSCT Chancellor decided to visit ITS to agree on this cooperation,” said the professor of Electrical Engineering ITS.

The man who is often called Ashari conveyed some of the cooperation that will be carried out. Among these are staff exchanges, training of SSCT lecturers to provide new insights, ongoing CommTECH programs, and the like. “It is also possible for later to have student exchanges,” said the former Chancellor of Telkom University while smiling.

ITS Chancellor Prof. Mochamad Ashari (left) and President of College Surigao State College of Technology (right) when discussing the cooperation of the two institutions in the ITS Chancellor’s workspace

At this meeting, the SSCT delegation that arrived with the chancellor, Dr. Gregorio Jr Gamboa expressed his interest in the field of Biology ITS. So that in this meeting there were also representatives from the Dean of the Faculty of Science, Secretary of the Department of Biology, and IO from the Department of Biology. According to Ashari, SSCT also wants to learn to develop mangroves like those in Surabaya. “Because their campus area is in the islands that need to benefit from mangroves,” said the former Head of the ITS Electrical Engineering Department.

Ashari added that this MoU was the first foreign cooperation carried out by the SSCT. So Ashari is sure, this is a good step for ITS to develop its collaboration. Ashari also conveyed the possibility of ITS to provide a Developing Country Partnership (KNB) scholarship to SSCT students later.

The ITS Chancellor and the SSCT President discussed at the ITS Rectorate Building.

Therefore, Ashari said, in the future, this cooperation is expected to continue well. “Because there are still many higher education institutions within ASEAN that ITS must embrace later,” he concluded firmly. (dik/herdiana/ITS PR)

The Chancellor of ITS Prof. Mochamad Ashari (three from the left) and President of College Surigao State College of Technology Dr. Gregorio Jr Gamboa (four from the right) when signing the MoU and witnessed by representatives of both universities