ITS Rector, Prof. Mochamad Ashari (left) when giving batik as souvenirs to the Deputy Ambassador of the United Kingdom for Indonesia, Rob Fenn (right)

ITS Campus, ITS News – Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) continues to widen its network of cooperation, both nationally and internationally. It was proven by the acceptance of a delegation visit of the British Embassy led by Deputy Ambassador, Rob Fenn at ITS Rectorate Building, Monday (17/2), in order to establish cooperation in the field of education and research.

ITS Rector, Prof Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari MEng explained, that ITS was very enthusiastic to establish partnerships with the British Embassy. “We hope that this discussion will produce innovations to advance human resources in Indonesia, especially Surabaya city,” said the professor who is familiarly called Ashari.

Rob Fenn said, ITS will be the partner of the British Embassy in the field of education, especially regarding disaster mitigation and extreme climate change. “We are very serious about this program and ITS will be the center of this program,” he said. Rob Fenn also added about the issue of education which will be discussed how to control and improve the city using future city systems. “We plan to implement this program in the city of Surabaya as a pilot city,” he explained.

ITS Rector, Prof. Mochamad Ashari when delivering the cooperation opportunities that can be done with the British Embassy 

Following that, Barikatul Hikmah as Future City Manager explained, the Global Future Cities program is implemented in 19 cities around the world. As for Indonesia, there are two cities, namely Bandung city for the transportation field and Surabaya city for the climate change field. “The city of Surabaya was chosen because the effort to overcome the disaster problem is close to perfection, except in the mitigation of the earthquake disaster,” said the woman who is familiarly called Hikmah. Hikmah also explained, the program had a planning stage, an educational stage regarding early warning especially for women and disabilities, and the execution stage. “The plan is for this program to be launched next March,” she said.

Deputy Ambassador of the United Kingdom for Indonesia, Rob Fenn when giving his speech

Meanwhile, ITS Vice-Rector IV for Research, Innovation, Cooperation, and Alumni, Bambang Pramujati ST MSc Eng Ph.D. said, ITS had previously collaborated with Surabaya regarding the future city. “For in Surabaya, the system is called Smart City,” he said.

Bambang also added, one of the proofs of ITS cooperation with the Surabaya City Government is a Smart Living program, which is the online admission system of new students and CCTV traffic monitoring. “Therefore, we are very interested in establishing cooperation so that the Smart City system in Surabaya will be better,” said the Mechanical Engineering lecturer.

Group photo of ITS Executive Board and the British Embassy for Indonesia

Similarly to Vice-Rector IV, Dr. Maria Anityasari ST. ME as Director of ITS Global Partnership explained, the Directorate of Global Partnership or ITS International Office has also discussed education on disaster mitigation and climate change through discussion forums and student workshops on an ongoing basis. “The plan is that next April, there will be a massive student workshop on this issue,” Maria explained.

With the explanations, Rob Fenn hopes that ITS can collaborate with the British Embassy to prevent climate change and educate the community about disaster mitigation. “We hope this climate change issue can find a solution and can be discussed at the 26th PPB Climate Change conference in the UK,” Rob Fenn concluded. (sen/gayatri/ITS Public Relations)