On Monday 13th of May 2024, the English Literature Program held an alumni talk with Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi at Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi had worked as the Indonesian Ambassador to the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus since 2016. The year of 2020 was the year of retirement for Drs. M. Wahid Supriyadi as an Indonesian ambassador.

The Career Talk was attended by all students of the UGM English Literature Program batch 2021, 2022, and 2023. The event was opened by the host Aimar Prabhaswara Dzakri, the President of the English Literature Department Student Association (IMAJI) 2023. The event continued with a warm welcome by the Head of the English Literature Program, Dr. Adi Sutrisno, M.A.

This event aims to enhance students’ understanding of careers in politics and diplomacy. The importance of knowing contemporary issues regarding relations between countries is to create an educated society, strengthen universal solidarity, and be aware of the latest global news. In essence, individuals are part of a large group of people in the world. An individual has a role and contribution to the development and peace of the world.

Story after story was told by Pak Wahid to the students. The story starts from his career journey to the tips given by Pak Wahid to students who want to pursue their career path in diplomacy. He shared tips by saying to broaden the understanding of global issues through reading a lot of the latest news, both those happening in Indonesia and those happening in a worldwide scale.

During the question and answer session, Pak Wahid said that not only students of international relations-related study programs have the opportunity to work in foreign institutions/ministries. He said that anyone can pursue a career as a diplomat, both men and women. He also advised the students to avidly read various books and make reading books a hobby. It is no secret that books can help improve critical thinking, one of the elements needed by students and it is essential in the professional world.

The event ended with the awarding of a book written by Mr. Wahid to one of the student participants who actively asked questions during the activity. The title of the book is Diplomasi Ringan dan Lucu Kisah Nyata. After the awarding session, Pak Wahid and the students took selfies together and had a group photo session.

On Saturday and Sunday, May 11-12, 2024, the annual Sasana Debat Mahasiswa (SADEWA) 2024 debate competition organized by the Directorate of Student Affairs UGM through the Sasana Debat Mahasiswa (SADEWA) committee under the auspices of Gadjah Mada Debating Society UGM, was held again. The SADEWA 2024 debate competition was held at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, precisely at the Soegondo Building which lasted for two days. This debate competition consists of Indonesian and English debate competitions, aims as a selection for participation in the 2024 National University Debating Championship (NUDC) and the 2024 Indonesian Student Debate Competition at the National level, as well as increasing talent and critical thinking skills within the scope of Gadjah Mada University students.

The SADEWA 2024 debate competition uses the British Parliamentary (BP) system with one chamber or competition session consisting of four different teams (Government Opener, Opposition Opener, Government Member, Opposition Member) who debate each other within seven minutes and twenty seconds with random motions related to social issues, history, politics, family, and others. In this year’s SADEWA 2024 competition, eight teams from different faculties participated in the English debate competition, followed by twelve teams in the Indonesian debate competition. The activity was held from 08.00 WIB to 17.30 WIB, in two days of activities with the first day there was a special speech from Mugiyarto, S.IP., as Head of the Student Organization and Activities Section, Directorate of Student Affairs UGM.

Friday, May 17, 2024, the Literary Library Community of Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM together with Kognisi, a learning platform from Kompas Gramedia, held a literacy gathering entitled, “Arriving in Yogyakarta” in the green open courtyard of Soegondo Building, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. This literacy gathering coincides with the commemoration of National Book Day which occurs every May 17. Participants who took part in the activity did not only come from UGM students, but students from other universities such as Yogyakarta State University and the general public also attended the literacy meeting of Perpustra UGM with Kognisi.

The literacy activity began with the “Celoteh Buku” session, which is sharing stories about books from each participant of the community to be told in front of other participants to hone storytelling skills. Each participant not only explained the summary of the book’s story, but also raised personal opinions from the book he read. After a number of participants told their books, the “Silih Gilir” session began, where each participant packed their respective books into a brown envelope and gave the book to the right side participant continuously until the signal stopped from the moderator, then they would open the envelope containing the book that had been given by the participant next to them randomly and read the book which was then interspersed with a “Read Together” focus time session from the book he got.

On the same occasion, Perpustra also opened a book donation drive open to the community and students with the aim of donating to those in need to help improve regional literacy.

Saturday, May 25, 2024, the UGM Archaeology Student Association (HIMA), Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, held a 2024 Dialogue Room Webinar on Gender Archaeology with a sub-theme entitled, “Gender Studies Based on Archaeological Findings” which is open to the public. This webinar was guided by Haybah Shabira as the Moderator of the activity and two special resource persons, namely UGM Archaeology Lecturer, Dr. Mimi Savitri, M.A. and Archaeological Researcher at Pura Mangkunegaran, Tyassanti Kusumo Dewanti, M.A., who has a number of experiences and contributions in gender archaeological studies. This activity aims to increase the knowledge of archaeology students and the general public about the position or division of roles of people in the past, both men and women in living their daily lives in the social, economic, or political fields. The study is based on archaeological data findings in the form of reliefs, inscriptions, or ancient manuscripts.

The activity session was opened with remarks from the Advisor of HIMA UGM, Drs. Musadad, M.Hum., who paid attention to the importance of gender studies in the discovery of archaeological remains in the role and duties in the scope of society. Followed by the delivery of the first material given by Dr. Mimi Savitri, M.A., as an introduction and opening material to get to know more about gender archaeological studies in the discovery of archaeological remains. The next material was presented by Tyassanti Kusumo Dewanti, M.A., explaining previous research on the position and role of women in history, domination and power relations in 9th and 10th century Java, and evidence of the role of women based on findings in the inscription text. After the presentation ended, a question and answer session was opened to the webinar participants.

It is hoped that this Dialogue Room Webinar can be a forum for the general public and archaeology students to discuss and find out what archaeological issues are and be useful for prospective archaeologists if they face the same problems.

Monday, May 20, 2024, UGM Vocational School together with UGM Innovation and Creativity Center (GIK) opened the INOVOKASIA 2024 Festival held from May 20, 2024 to June 1, 2024, at the UGM Vocational School. The increasing challenges of vocational needs in the future, this festival is present as a place to introduce the important role of Vocational education in the general public, including students, in the field of knowledge and skills to accelerate change and innovation in responding to technological developments. In its series of events, the INOVOKASIA 2024 Festival presents exhibition exhibitions, various competitions such as photography and poster design, workshops, talk shows, master classes, seminars, Talent Day, Movie Day, Sekip Walk, and music performances.

The festival was opened with remarks from the Dean of UGM Vocational School, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ir. Agus Maryono, IPM, ASEAN Eng, who said the role of information technology to accelerate all knowledge that can be distributed so that change can occur. He also emphasized that Vocational students are ready to fill innovations, manufacturing works, cultural works, economic works, health works by joining hands with all faculties related to GIK. The hope of the innovation is to make Vocational School a “lighthouse” for other vocational schools by applying the movement method that has been applied by UGM Vocational School, so that one change has an impact on other changes. This model has spread to all students and lecturers, to accelerate the pace of change starting from the pattern of thinking to become more responsive to change.

In the next moment, the speech was continued by Garin Nugroho, Chief Program Officer of Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas UGM, who emphasized the importance of vocational education for the future, especially for Generation Z to answer future challenges through increasing skill capacity for the Generation Z population which amounts to more than 60% of the total population in Indonesia. On the same occasion, Garin also said the INOVOKASIA 2024 Festival invited Vocational schools across Indonesia to map the ecosystem and challenges with the aim of preparing the next generation of Indonesia.

In line with Garin Nugroho, Aji Wartono, Head of Experience at Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas UGM, also supported the organization of this festival as a place to prepare students to be able to jump directly into professional industries with vast potential and future opportunities. Aji reminded that Indonesia still has 150 manufacturing companies, the number of existing manufacturing companies is still relatively small, so further opportunities for the development of the manufacturing industry are wide open.

The opening event of the INOVOKASIA 2024 Festival can be a reference for the Faculty of Humanities UGM. Improving the quality of education and expanding student experience to prepare for the world of work according to changing industry needs is one of the goals of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM to always respond to changes accurately and precisely through industry cooperation.