Prof. Dr. Aulia Siti Aisjah who was connected online to monitor the implementation of the AUN-QA certification visitation at ITS

ITS Campus, ITS News – To guarantee the quality of its education at the international level, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) proposed four departments to get the ASEAN University Network-Quality Assurance (AUN-QA) certification. In a remote-site visit for assessment by a team of assessors which was held starting Monday (14/12), ITS mobilized the relevant academicians to be maximally involved in it.

Head of the ITS Quality Assurance Office (KPM) Prof. Dr. Aulia Siti Aisjah said that the visitation prepared with this hybrid system was a series of stages to achieve AUN-QA certification after previously ITS had passed the desk-evaluation stage. “For that, on all next four days an assessment will be carried out by the assessor team and there will be an explanation of the results of the assessment to ITS directors on the fifth day,” she explained.

Starting with the opening of ITS Chancellor, Prof. Dr. Ir Mochamad Ashari, M.Eng, and Deputy Chairperson of AUN-QA, Council Prof. Dr. Ir. Shahrir Abdullah, the agenda was continued with presentations by faculty deans, department heads, and the self-assessment report (SAR) compilation team. The four departments participating in this certification are the Department of Biology, the Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering, the Department of Architecture, and the Department of Geomatics Engineering.

The event was then continued with a live-streaming tour of ITS facilities which included the Central Library, Student Dormitory, Student Advisory Center (SAC), Medical Center, and Unit Pelaksana Teknis (UPT) Bahasa dan Budaya or  Language and Culture Technical Implementation Unit. “In this virtual tour, we have set up many optimal and efficient cameras to display a portrait of a building from each side by controlling the stability of the working internet,” said Aulia.

Interviews with lecturers in each department are also scheduled. Not only centered on departments, but there will also be meetings with educational staff at the institute level. These include the Direktorat Sumber Daya Manusia dan Organisasi  (DSDMO) and the  Direktorat Pengembangan Teknologi dan Sistem Informasi (DPTSI) and many more. “For example, for DPTSI, questions that will be asked by the assessors are about the internet stability system for online learning sites (myITS Classroom),” added Aulia.

Reviewing each department that applied for certification, interviews were conducted with departmental levels education personnel such as laboratory assistants, administrators, technicians, and the cleaning department. This agenda also involves representatives of first to fourth-year students from each department. Aulia explained that all students are connected from their respective homes by considering the stability of the internet which meets the internet speed test criteria of more than 20 Mbps.

All facilities of the department were all included for the assessment, which was then shown live-streamed from several areas such as laboratories, study rooms, administration rooms, places of worship, and others. This assessment also refers to alumni who graduated a maximum of 10 years ago to provide input regarding the deficiencies of the department. “Directors in the alumni workplace are also asked by the assessors to help review aspects that need to be improved from the relevant departments, such as curriculum or methods,” explained the woman in hijab.

The Head of the ITS Quality Assurance Office (KPM), Prof. Dr. Aulia Siti Aisjah, who was involved in the AUN-QA certification assessment for the four departments at ITS

After a series of meetings were held with related academicians for the first three days, the agenda continued with a review of SAR documents by the AUN-QA assessor team. Then, a meeting was held between the assessor team and the document drafting team to clarify the comparison of the data provided on the document and what the related parties said in the previous interview session.

Of all the stages aimed at the assessment, the team of assessors then presented the results of the assessment including the advantages of ITS and what areas need to be improved by the institutions and departments, both in terms of the learning process or network provisioning capabilities. “It does not say about its weaknesses because AUN-QA is an assessment for certification so that it is also followed by several study programs with certain fields of knowledge (science, engineering, and design),” said this bespectacled lecturer.

Seeing a series of very long certification processes, Aulia said that preparations had been made two years ago. Starting from the preparation of documents, review by KPM, and various simulations aimed at students. “Because AUN-QA is an international standard, we also prepare English language skills from the department with training from the Language and Culture UPT,” he admitted.

Besides, Aulia added, ITS also prepared as many videos as possible as additional information because the assessors did not visit the place directly. Especially because this AUN-QA certification is done online, the assessor asks ITS to prepare a local-verifier. In this case, it will involve the Dean of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, University of Surabaya, Ir. Eric Wibisono, P.Hd. IPU.

Therefore, with the participation of many elements who have tried hard to prepare the best for this certification to run smoothly, Aulia has special hopes in it. “Hopefully the ITS score can reach five to six on a scale of seven and meet the criteria as an institution that has held an international standard education process,” said the ITS Professor of Physics Engineering positively. (tri/nadh/ITS Public Relations)