Back again from Friday Ceria FIB Sehat, this routine activity is back to realize a healthier and happier balanced life routine. This activity was attended by lecturers, teaching staff, and academic community of Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM. Various types of sports were held in this activity, including healthy gymnastics, line dance, fitness/gym, badminton, table tennis, and healthy walking. Today’s special event was a new sport, Volleyball.

Photo 1: The staff are having fun playing volleyball.

Together with the academic community and educators, FIB UGM filled this activity with excitement. Each participant can choose sports according to their interests and habits. Not only providing physical benefits, apparently this activity also builds togetherness, enthusiasm, and maintains the mental health of each participant. This is part of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences’ commitment to promoting health and well-being among the academic community.

Photo 2: Gym Room Faculty of Humanities

The new academic year 2024/2025 has begun, which means there are new students who will pursue their education at the university level. This is also the case at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada. This time the good news came from the Anthropology department. This year the Anthropology Department accepted 105 new students. Then the department together with the departmental association, Kemant, held an orientation period for new students of the Cultural Anthropology Bachelor Program.

The orientation period was held in a series of events that were packaged creatively and innovatively. The first activity was Meet the New Students, this activity was held on August 11, 2024. This activity is a gateway to introduce new students to anthropology. Through this activity, the committee and Kemant gave an overview of the Anthropology Department by socializing what activities are in the department, such as field research, exchange programs, tandem research, and many more. Then the new students were also divided into several groups that would be accompanied by a guide. The purpose of forming this group is to get to know each other and for various things that will be faced in the world of lectures. “Sharing is caring…”, said Deta as the public relations committee. This activity was closed with a jamming session.

Furthermore, students will get to know more about cultural anthropology in the activities in the coming week, some of which are: (a) group discussions that will be divided into several topics; (b) Rembukant, a talkshow type activity that will present speakers; (c) Writing Workshop; (d) Puncak Berkawant. So, let’s look forward to a series of other activities.

The Middle Eastern Culture & Religion Issues (MECRI) journal of the UGM Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies Program has officially signed a cooperation agreement with Ittihad Mudarrisi Al-Lughah Al-Arabiyah (IMLA) Indonesia on Friday, March 8, 2024 at Discovery Hotel, Ancol Jakarta. The signing was attended by Prof. Dr. Sangidu, M.Hum. as the ex-officio Chairperson of the Master of Middle Eastern Cultural Studies Program and Dr. Imam Wicaksono, Lc., M.A. as the Managing Editor of the MECRI Journal, while from the IMLA side it was attended by the Chairman, Prof. Dr. Uril Bahruddin, M.A.

MECRI Journal and IMLA Indonesia establish editorial board cooperation in the form of involving IMLA Indonesia as a bestari partner and quality assurance of national and international journal publications online and Open Journal System (OJS). In this historic moment, the Professor of UIN Malik Ibrahim Malang said that the association of lecturers with Arabic Language and Literature journals needs to synergize in improving the quality of education in Indonesia. The entire academic community is obliged to make research-based innovations in the study of Arabic language and literature. With this collaboration, it is hoped that the UGM MECRI Journal can become one of the platforms for the development of scientific publications in Indonesia so that academics and researchers will find it easier to publish scientific papers in the future.

Cairo, Tuesday, February 20, 2024 – Muhammad Raushan Afkar, a student of Arabic Literature UGM, successfully completed the 3-month Cairo Credit Transfer Program. Along with 11 colleagues from Universitas Sebelas Maret, Universitas Padjajaran, and Universitas Al-Azhar Indonesia, Afkar joined the study program at the International Center for Arab Studies and Training and Faculty of Letters, Benha University, Egypt. The experience of studying in the land of camels gave him valuable knowledge about the Arabic language and culture which became an important foundation in the development of his studies.

During the program, they were not only taught practical proficiency in Arabic, but were also exposed to the rich culture and history of Arab countries. Students are given in-depth knowledge of the history of Arab civilization and Muslims, as well as the role and contribution of Islamic leaders in creating history.

In every meeting, lecturers actively involve students in listening, analyzing texts, question and answer discussions, and communicating exclusively in Arabic. Students are even encouraged to communicate only in Arabic and will be penalized with a monetary fine if they violate the rules. The money collected is then donated to help the poor people of Egypt. This shows the spirit of solidarity and social responsibility in an academic environment.

In addition, lecturers also enrich the learning experience by bringing typical Egyptian items into the classroom, such as food and cultural artifacts. Thus, students not only gain a comprehensive knowledge of Arabic language and culture, but also acquire a unique and memorable learning experience amidst the richness of Egyptian culture.

At the end of the program, students are given the opportunity to express the knowledge and skills they gained during their journey from Indonesia to Egypt and while living in Egypt through the creation of an Arabic drama with the theme “Journey from Indonesia to Egypt”. Through this drama, students not only show their official Arabic language skills, but also slip some local languages owned by Egypt when interacting and socializing with native Egyptians.

After this program, students are expected to apply what they have learned in Egypt to student life at UGM. They are encouraged to integrate their experiences into their daily activities, both in the use of Arabic language and in the promotion of Arabic culture in the campus environment. Thus, their learning experience does not only stop in Egypt, but also becomes a strong foundation to develop themselves in the future.

Friday, February 23, 2024 – The French Studies Student Association of UGM held a Handover event from the management of the 2023 period to the new management of the 2024 period. The event took place at the Soegondo Auditorium and started at 11:00 WIB moments after the Student Gathering event was over. This event is in accordance with SDGs point number 4, namely Quality Education. The event was led by two Masters of Ceremony from the new management, Ajeng and Aurell.

There are several agendas on today’s Handover of Position. The first was a speech from the Chairperson of the French Language and Literature Study Program, Madame Dr. Hayatul Cholsy, S.S., M.Hum followed by the final speech from the Chairperson of HMSP Period 2023, Catharina Maida Muhamartha. Furthermore, there was a symbolic event of Handover of Position in the form of releasing the corsa from each Daily Management of the 2023 Period which was then given and worn by the Daily Management of the 2024 Period.

The symbolic event started from the Chairman of HMSP and ended with the Interest and Talent Department. After that, the Executive Board of the 2023 Period was invited to sit back down and the new Executive Board remained standing in front of the Auditorium podium to then take the Oath and Promise led by the Head of the Study Program. After the reading of the Oath and Promise, the event was closed with a prayer. Before leaving the Auditorium, the Executive Board for the 2023 and 2024 Periods and the Head of the Study Program took a group photo on the Auditorium podium. The event ended at 11.30 WIB.