USU PUBLIC RELATIONS - The Rector of the Universitas Sumatera Utara(USU), Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si., said that the development of digital technology has penetrated the world of higher education. The existence of the Covid-19 pandemic is also considered to encourage the use of digital technology more and more.

“The rapid development of digital technology must be followed by campuses. Campuses must be adaptive. We can no longer use the old method. The learning process on campus has to be transformed using digital technology," said Mury when he was a speaker at the World Class Professor (WCP) with the title Digitalize University on USU, online, Tuesday (9/28/2021).

Muryanto Amin explained how the role of the campus is to encourage the academic community to transform towards the use of digital technology. He said the campus responded wisely to the development of digital technology in order to meet the qualifications of the resources needed by the market.

“The commitment of higher education leaders is very important in the digital transformation process in universities. Universities must be agile, innovative, adaptive, and open their minds to the outside world. In addition, you must dare to experiment to get the best learning method using digital technology," he said.

Mury further explained that the campus will face challenges in the period of technological development. These challenges come from inside and outside the campus itself. The transformation process from analog to digital takes time and must be done consistently.

According to him, digital culture should be implanted as soon as possible on campus. The application of digital technology is not only shown in the use of gadgets, but is also supported by the implementation of curriculum, accreditation, and study plans that support the widespread application of digital technology on campus. The role of lecturers and students is also very much needed in this case as users of digital technology.

“At least we become smart digital users. Students and lecturers can maximize the use of digital technology. Sometimes our obstacle is that there are still many lecturers who are not familiar with using digital technology. So that knowledge cannot be conveyed to students properly," he said.

Muryanto added that currently many jobs have been replaced by digital technology. Currently, the use of robots as cashiers, nurses, and restaurant waiters has begun to emerge. He also gave an example of how Tesla and Google have launched cutting-edge technologies, such as self-driving cars and buses. Of course this is a material for reflection on how the campus can prepare excellent graduates who can keep up with the times.

Muryanto Amin also encourages the teaching and learning process to collaborate on the theoretical and practical sides. Students can solve problems directly to gain experience. The combination of theoretical and practical aspects is considered to be an effective recipe for preparing excellent graduates. USU as a university through the tagline Transformation Towards the Ultimate focuses on transforming resources in accordance with industry demands. Although currently in the development stage, he believes that the digitization of campuses at USU will show results in at least two years.

"Transformation Towards the Ultimate in digitizing the USU campus puts forward digital competence, sustainable digital use, and digital literacy. Using digital technology will help academics to convey ideas, ideas, and opinions widely in a short time," he explained.

The implementation of campus digitization at USU is realized by creating a one-access system for all the needs of the academic community. In addition, it also encourages the study program to reconstruct the learning methods and curriculum. (©ULC)

Author: Roni Hikmah Ramadhan - PR

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Amri Simatupang - PR