On Wednesday May 3rd, 2023, the Embassy of Belgium in Indonesia made a visit to Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM). The delegation was led by Mr. H.E. Frank Felix, the ambassador of Belgium in Indonesia, accompanied by Mr. Randolph Wintgens and Mr. Marc Peeters, both Foreign Trade Advisors of Belgium. Prof. dr. Ova Emilia, M.Med.Ed., Sp.OG(K)., Ph.D., Rector of UGM welcomed the delegation together with the Dean of Faculty of Forestry, Dean of Faculty of Agriculture, Dean of Faculty of Agricultural Technology, representatives from the Faculty of Economics and Business, and several alumni from Belgium who are currently active lecturers at UGM. This visit is aimed to strengthen the relations between Indonesia and Belgium, specifically relations between UGM and Belgian Institutions.
UGM and institutions in Belgium are not unfamiliar to each other. From UGM’s record, cooperation with institutions, especially universities from Belgium started from the 2010s in the form of Erasmus Mundus consortium agreements. From then on, UGM developed its university to university (U to U) partnership with a number of Belgian universities, namely Ghent University, Vives University of Applied Science, Vrije Universiteit Brussel and University of Liege. UGM also built a strong relation with the Network on Humanitarian Action (NoHA) through its various activities, including master research and exchange programs.
The existing partnerships between UGM and Belgian universities are quite active and resulted in various grant awarding, such as from the VLIR-UOS (Flemish Interuniversity Council) for several researchers, including joint research run by the Faculty of Agriculture and Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, respectively, collaborated with Ghent University and KU Leuven. Dr. Benito Heru Purwanto, one of the meeting’s attendees, who is a lecturer and researcher from the Faculty of Agriculture was the local promoter for a project funded by VLIR-UOS in 2019-2021, titled “Bamboo for biochar: an opportunity for scientific, societal and environmental change in Indonesia (BamBIndo)”.
In the following discussion, all parties agreed that even though there have already been collaborations between UGM and several Belgian Institutions, it has always been few and far in between. Therefore, more cooperation in the form of exchange and mobility programs as well as joint research projects among UGM and Belgian institutions are highly encouraged. Here, all parties expressed their interest in making such endeavors, especially to invite more Belgian students and professors to UGM and Indonesia as a whole. UGM also invites Mr. Felix for the possibility of becoming a guest lecturer in the foreseeable future.
The discussion ends with an air of optimism for more collaboration in the future. More talks and discussions are needed to finalize such an endeavor and as a result we can expect more meetings from UGM and the Belgian Embassy.
red: Haikal
Recent Comments