Director of ITS Global Engagement, Assoc Prof. Maria Anityasari, Ph.D., when opening CommTECH at ITS some time ago

ITS Campus, ITS News – In the COVID-19 pandemic, despite so many limitations, the Directorate of Global Engagement of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) remained consistent in achieving internationalization for ITS. Although they weren’t able to implement numerous scheduled programs due to the COVID-19 pandemic that limits mobilization between countries, ITS Global Engagement persevered in innovating brand-new programs such as Teen-Ideas and an online version of the Community and Technological Camp (CommTECH), which presume in late July.

The education sector, as one of the pillars to achieve the improvement of human resources, experienced a huge impact due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Teaching and learning activities at various levels of education were forced to adjust to the conditions in order to avoid worsening the condition. One of those activities affected was the internationalization programs that cannot be realized due to the restrictions on mobilization between countries.

As revealed by the Director of ITS Global Engagement, Assoc. Prof. Maria Anityasari, Ph.D., countless offline face-to-face internationalization programs planned in advance had to be postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Maria added that in January 2020, there were at least 88 foreign students who were supposed to come and experience the programs at ITS. “But because of the COVID-19 pandemic, only 33 foreign students were able to come,” she stated.

But in the perspective of ITS Global Engagement, the COVID-19 pandemic should definitely not limit efforts of internationalization. Maria explicitly emphasized that ITS should not be lethargic. ITS must innovate to carry out the internationalization mission. This was circumvented by ITS GE through the innovation of breakthroughs in the form of several short programs in collaboration with ITS international partners conducted online. Two upcoming programs were  Teen Ideas and CommTECH 2020.

ITS Vice Rector for Research, Innovation, Cooperation, and Alumni, Bambang Pramujati, S.T., M.Sc.Eng., Ph.D., when giving an opening speech at the Teen Ideas 2020 today (29/7)

The first online short program was Teen Ideas 2020, which was a new collaboration program between ITS and Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP). The program began on July 29, 2020, consisted of six meetings and is expected to end on September 16, 2020. Teen Ideas 2020 aimed to provide opportunities for both students of ITS and students of ITS international partners, which in this case were students of UniMAP, to develop critical thinking and express ideas on a certain topic.

For the first time, Teen Ideas adopted the theme of New Normal in Varsity Campus: Implementing Novel Technology in the Post COVID-19 Pandemic. Participants of this program are expected to present ideas that have been discussed and then criticized with other participants. An interesting aspect was that each team is a combination of ITS and UniMAP students. “This aims to gain the impact of engagement and interaction of ITS students with UniMAP students, despite being implemented virtually,” Maria stated.

Prof. Ir. Ts. Dr. R. Badlishah Ahmad, Vice Chancellor of UniMAP, when giving a speech and lecture to Teen Ideas 2020 participants virtually

Another unique thing about the Teen Ideas program was the involvement of audience members. Unlike ordinary participants, audience participants were not included in the teams to produce presentations. Audience participants only acted as spectators in this program. However, they had the right to ask questions at the session. The quota for audience participants was provided to accommodate students who want to participate in the program but were not used public speaking, which was expected in conducting presentations.

The second program to be held in ITS Global Engagement’s annual program, namely CommTECH. This event was held twice a year with the aim of introducing ITS as one of the best technology campuses in Indonesia to people around the world. Since it will be conducted online, CommTECH this year earned the name CommTECH Course 2020 Online Edition.

CommTECH this year, which would be the 16^th CommTECH event, was scheduled to be held for 12 days starting August 3, 2020, with the discussion of the Internet of Things (IoT) for the Application of Smart Cities in the Pandemic Period. In line with CommTECH’s jargon of Solving Local Problems with Global Knowledge, this event also provides a place for participants to discuss and solve local problems with global insights.

Teen Ideas 2020 program participants who took part in the virtual opening ceremony

The first period of online CommTECH was recognized by Maria to be a formidable challenge for ITS. The efforts to transform CommTECH into an online event, which was previously carried out offline, required hard work, and high dedication. This Industrial Engineering lecturer continued that this time, CommTECH will still be interspersed with interesting activities like the previous CommTECH. “There will be silat learning activities, learning Poco-Poco Dance, campus tours, and even the City of Surabaya tour, all of which will be carried out online with the help of technology,” she expressed.

ITS Global Engagement hoped that the online short program will still be able to provide the spirit of internationalization in ITS, even in the midst of the current pandemic. In addition, this breakthrough is expected to open, strengthen, improve relations between ITS and participating universities globally, and can have a positive impact on ITS and Surabaya, even Indonesia. (ram/ory/ITS Public Relations)