Through an online meeting on Wednesday, January 17, 2024, the UGM French Language and Literature study program held a briefing for third-year students, namely 2021 students who will take part in the MBKM (Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka) program. This briefing is related to preparing activities that can be followed as a substitute for even semester lectures in the 2023/2024 academic year. This is done to achieve the goals of the curriculum under the two themes of SDG 4, Quality Education, and SDG 17 Partnerships to Achieve Goals.

In this online meeting, students are given information regarding what internal or external activities can be chosen and then can be converted as a value for this even semester lecture. The MBKM activities offered by the study program include internship programs and independent projects in collaboration with several study program partners, faculties, and universities with a cooperation agreement.  Internship activities that students can carry out include ARTraduction translation agency, Institut Français d’Indonésie and Alliance Française throughout Indonesia, publishing agencies such as Mojok Publisher, as well as museums in Yogyakarta and Central Java such as Ullen Sentalu Museum, Radya Pustaka Solo Museum, Kraton Yogyakarta Museum, Tumurun Solo Museum, etc. For independent projects, there are film translation projects in collaboration with IFI Yogyakarta and film centers in France, and French language learning assistance projects in schools in Yogyakarta and surrounding areas.

In addition to programs initiated by the study program, students can also carry out MBKM activities funded by the Ministry of Education and Culture in the form of the Diktiristek Flagship program. Several students have been accepted into the program, including the program Kampus Mengajar at SMKS Piri Sleman as teacher partners, social media editorial internships at Kompas Gramedia Jakarta, internships in statistical cooperation positions at the Directorate General of Higher Education Jakarta, internships in the retail merchandising division at PT AEON Indonesia, independent study activities including mentoring and studying the establishment of digital start-ups with the Ministry of Communication and Information’s 100 Digital Startup Movement, and internships for French translation assistants at the DPR RI Secretariat General.

The Japan Foundation is a non-profit institution owned by the Japanese government which is specifically dedicated to international cultural exchange activities. This institution seeks to create various activities and provide facilities and information so that individuals can interact with each other with the aim of deepening mutual understanding between Japanese society and other countries through arts and cultural exchange activities, education and learning Japanese in abroad, and Japanese studies abroad, and also collect the material and then distribute it. Even though it is based in Tokyo, The Japan Foundation already has 24 branch offices spread throughout the world. One of them is in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Japan Foundation Jakarta is tasked with carrying out activities initiated by the head office, contributing to Japanese and Indonesian cultural exchange activities, supporting and collaborating with external organizations, conducting research, and providing information related to all cultural exchange activities carried out by The Japan Foundation.

In order to provide support and strengthen collaboration, the Japan Foundation (JF) Jakarta visited the Japanese Language and Culture Study Program, Gadjah Mada University on Friday 26th of January 2024 at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The visit from the Japan Foundation (JF) Jakarta was represented by Deputy Mr. Yamazaki Takaya and Mrs. Kadoi Minako from the division of Japan Language Education. On this occasion, a meeting was held to discuss the cooperation that has existed for approximately 35 years since the establishment of the Japanese Language and Culture Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Science, Gadjah Mada University in 1989. Apart from that, there were several important things that were also discussed, including making plans regarding future cooperation, discussing the development of Japanese science and the challenges faced in the current and future eras. It is hoped that this meeting will have a positive impact on the cooperative relationship between the two organizations in the future. In this way, the goals of both the Japan Foundation (JF) and the Japanese Language and Culture Study Program, especially in the field of education, can be carried out well.