USU PR - Rector of the Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si., delivered a material entitled "USU Welcomes World Class University" at the USU Graduate School's online seminar. The seminar as well as the celebration of the 36th Dies Natalis (Anniversary) raised the theme "Strategy and the Role of Graduate Schools in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0 Towards a World Class University". The event was held through a zoom meeting on Wednesday (11/24/2021).

To support the World Class University (WUR) target, the Rector emphasized the Postgraduate School to strengthen research. Agriculture and Biological Science is one of the research fields that is USU's branding at the international level, so this field must be further strengthened.

“In the field of agriculture and biological science, USU is ranked 445 in the world, 133 in Asia; and ranked 1 in Indonesia. This material is an advantage for lecturers because there are many publications and scientific products in this field, so that most students and lecturers can be directed to write a thesis or dissertation with this theme,” said the Rector.

According to him, through this, USU can strengthen the output of the journal to increase the number of citations and articles.

In addition to strengthening research, USU researchers are also expected to perform more at the international level. One of the efforts is through an international conference where the speakers are USU lecturers along with international lecturers. "Through international conferences, USU researchers can promote their work to the international level," he said.

Not only that, the Rector also said that strengthening international collaboration in the field of education is one of the important points of USU policy to welcome WCU.

“Postgraduates with several lecturers who have been out of Indonesia can be invited to collaborate. The collaboration can take the form of a student lecture. Then from there we can produce joint research and publications,” he said.

Lecturers in postgraduates are expected to strengthen specialization so that they can be offered to partners in foreign universities. Lecturers can also collaborate with foreign lecturers who teach at the postgraduate level to share knowledge and experiences of each university's research.

USU will also employ foreign lecturers full time and provide doctoral scholarships by research for foreign students. "This can increase WUR, because it invites foreign academics to be able to study and teach here," continued Muryanto.

According to Muryanto, to get into the 1000 WUR ranks, USU must start international accreditation with certification. “Which among the 5 postgraduate study programs are the targets for international accreditation, we need to strengthen our assessment. To get there, the foundation must be strong, the lecturers must be international minded,” he said.

The Rector advised that postgraduates have the main task to strengthen research, publications and outputs. "Learning in the classroom is required to produce a product design and the target is to increase citations," he concluded. (©ULC)

Author: Bambang Riyanto - Humas

Interviewee: - - -

Photographer: Irsan Mulyadi - Humas