Friday, 26 May 2023, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences held a meeting with national and international exchange students. The students came from various regions in Indonesia such as Bali, Malang, Makassar, West Sumatra, and for the international students came from Italy, Brunnei Darussalam, and Japan. The meeting was attended by the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Dr Nur Saktiningrum, M.Hum, and several Heads of Study Programmes at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM, and several representatives from the Cooperation and Public Relations Unit.

The meeting lasted for two hours, starting with remarks from the Vice Dean and Heads of Study Programmes. The event then continued with sharing between students about their experiences while studying at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. They were so impressed with FIB UGM, not only in terms of the facilities provided, but also the quality of lecturers who taught and helped them during the learning process. This activity ended with a group photo.

With this meeting, students are very happy because they feel a strong sense of brotherhood and kinship with other students as well as lecturers and academic staff at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM. They hope that their juniors can also get the same opportunity to do student exchange at Universitas Gadjah Mada as the best university in Indonesia.

“Sjahrir is Here” is a project initiated by Isabelle Boon, a Dutch photographer. Starting from the previous project related to Banda Island, this time she returned with the aim of exploring the legacy of Sutan Sjahrir. This workshop was held for two days, starting on Monday, 22 May 2023, to Tuesday, 23 May 2023 in the Multimedia Room, Margono Building.

On the first day of the workshop, Isabelle opened the session by conducting a pretest using Kahoot! to test participants’ knowledge of Sutan Sjahrir. She also shared his journey on Banda Island by mentioning that her exploration there did not only focus on Sutan Sjahrir but also shared portraits of people living on Banda Island. She also showed a video containing a perspective from Siti Rabyah Parvati Sjahrir (Upik) who is the daughter of Sutan Sjahrir. The next speaker is Venessa Theonia, a student of the History Study Program, at UGM, who is currently pursuing her career as an artist. She shared her experience in compiling her own autoethnography using a historical perspective.

On the second day of the workshop, the participants were divided into three small groups. Each of them had a different focus but the goal was to apply what has been learned on the first day of the workshop. They also got the same task, which was expressing something through photos, videos, and sketches. The result of the second day of the workshop was a fresh start for Isabelle who will develop the “Sjahrir is Here” project into an art exhibition in the coming September-November. 

Dra. Wiwid Nurwidyohening, M.A. a lecturer of French Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, received Orde des Palmes Academiques for Chevalier category for the merit for developing French culture. The French Government gives this prestigious award to academics and teachers for their excellence in university, education, and science. 

On Thursday, May 11th, 2023, students of SMA Negeri Grujugan, Bondowoso, visited the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM. This event was held in the Multimedia Room of the Margono Building. 

This activity was started by an opening speech from the representative of the Unit of Cooperation and Public Relations and the representative of SMA Negeri Grujugan. After that, they had an opportunity to watch profile videos of UGM and the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. They were also given a deeper explanation of the faculty, the study programs, and the annual events held by the faculty. Other than that, a student organization from the History Study Program named BKMS (Badan Keluarga Mahasiswa Sejarah) was invited to give more insight about the History study program.  

The participants actively participated by asking several questions. The questions ranged from the reason why UGM become one of the top leading universities in the world to the struggles that are often faced by UGM students. 

As a closing, all participants took a picture together and several souvenirs from SMA Negeri Grujugan were given to the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM.

Wednesday, 10 May 2023, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences successfully graduated 61 graduates with a proportion of 20 male graduates and 41 female graduates. The procession of postgraduate graduation period III took place in the Auditorium of Soegondo Building on the 7th floor. The Mangayubagya Graduate Student event was opened with remarks from Dr. Nur Saktiningrum, M.Hum. as a representative of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. Furthermore, it also featured a dance from one of the Student BSOs, Sastro Obah, which performed the Jejogetan dance which is a victory-themed dance.

The Average Achievement Index for undergraduate programmes this period is 3.71 for S2 and 3.76. The graduate with the highest score was Nia Marniati Etie Fajari from the Master of Archaeology Programme. The graduates with the fastest study period were Muhammad Alnoza and Jihan Salsa Biela Fatin with a study period of 1 year 5 months and 10 days.

The final procession of the graduation ceremony was the submission of certificates and certificates of cum laude graduates from each department followed by a photo procession with the ranks of the dean, caprodi and graduates from each department.

Congratulations to the graduates who have successfully completed their education at the Faculty of Humanities UGM. Hopefully the achievements that have been made will continue to grow and provide benefits in the future.