USU PR- The Office of International Affairs at Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) organized a socialization event for the Indonesian Student Mobility Awards (IISMA) 2024. The event took place at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Public Health (FKM) USU on Thursday (12/07/2023).

IISMA is one of the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) programs supported by USU Rector Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si., with financial assistance to help ensure the success of the IISMA 2024 program.

Vice Rector I of USU, Dr. Edy Ikhsan, S.H., M.A., explained that there is something new in the funding system for IISMA awardees in the upcoming IISMA 2024 program, which includes self-funding and co-funding. Self-funding is a funding system provided by USU to selected foreign universities that have previously established cooperation agreements with USU. On the other hand, co-funding has a slightly different system, as the funding is divided between the ministry and the families of the IISMA awardees. There have already been 29 students who became IISMA awardees in the previous year through co-funding and full funding.

"The IISMA program, which has been known for its full government funding, introduced a new co-funding scheme last year, where part of the funding comes from the government and part from the students," explained Vice Rector I USU.

Dr. Edy revealed that out of 65 undergraduate and diploma programs, 450 students have been nominated by each program to participate in the IISMA 2024 program, which is 70% of the target nomination of 650 students. Vice Rector I USU emphasized that each program should nominate its students and support the IISMA program, as it is seen as a framework for USU's internationalization.

"Alhamdulillah, out of the 65 programs, both undergraduate and diploma, 70% have already nominated students. We hope the remaining 30% will also nominate students. We asked for ten students per program, so if we have 65 programs, that would be 650 students in total. But according to the Office of International Affairs monitoring today, Mr. Rudy said that only about 450 students attended the event," added Vice Rector I USU.

Head of the Office of International Affairs at USU, Prof. Dr. Rudy Sofyan, S.S., M.Hum., clarified that the implementation of self-funding has already been carried out by students from the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) USU. Prof. Rudy added that in February 2024, universities in the United States and Germany that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with USU will involve USU in the IISMA self-funding program.

"There was a student from economics who self-funded last time; he asked USU to explore an MoU with the university there so that he wouldn't have to pay, he was self-funding. We have also received self-funding, possibly in February, from the United States and Germany, and they asked USU to explore an MoU with them. So, students can choose universities there as well, or they can choose universities from the list of our MoUs," said Prof. Rudy.

Prof. Rudy explained that the ability to speak English and the psychological readiness of potential IISMA awardees to live abroad are the most important factors in the selection process. After that, their Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA) is considered to ensure no academic or non-academic issues during their studies abroad for one semester.

"First, we ask for English proficiency, then we conduct a psychological assessment of their ability to live independently abroad, which is the most important. Then, an understanding of international correspondence and regulations so they won't face any issues when abroad, and finally, we evaluate their academic ability based on their CGPA," emphasized Prof. Rudy.

Author: Bambang Riyanto - Humas

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Muhammad Andriansyah - Humas