On January 26th, 2024, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences of Universitas Gadjah Mada attended the Employee Training Needs Workshop 2024, which was held from 8:00 AM to 11:30 AM WIB (GMT+7) in Multimedia Room 1, KPTU UGM, 3rd Floor, North Wing. The event was organized by the Universitas Gadjah Mada Directorate of Human Resources, in order to receive feedback and evaluation of training conducted by the UGM Directorate of Human Resources and to identify training needs that need to be held to achieve organizational goals. The workshop invited a number of academic staff, faculty, and university staff, and had previously requested feedback from invited representatives to provide comprehensive and structured materials and discussion topics. The feedback needed was in the form of employee competency points that need to be improved and training needs that need to be held during 2024.

The series of activities of the Employee Training Needs Workshop 2024 is a realization of the SDG 4 point, Quality Education, and SDG 8 point, Decent Work and Economic Growth. This realization is carried out in improving the quality of employees and staff of Universitas Gadjah Mada for better education. This is followed by the creation of a healthy work environment and helping employees and staff to contribute to the improvement of human resource quality.

An Nuur Khairune Nisa, Delfyan Intan Nurmala Fadin, and Putrisari Oktaviani Gustiarti have written a journal entitled “Experiencing Museum: Eksplorasi Digital Free Tourism di Museum Ullen Sentalu, Yogyakarta,” which explores the concept of Digital Free Tourism (DFT) in the context of experiencing a museum at Ullen Sentalu. The study aims to analyze the implementation of the DFT concept at the Ullen Sentalu Museum in Yogyakarta and its implications for the museum tourism experience. This research employs a qualitative method with an exploratory study approach conducted through data collection methods, including observation, in-depth interviews, and literature review gathered from journals, books, articles, and the Ullen Sentalu Museum’s website.

The findings of this research reveal that the Ullen Sentalu Museum has successfully applied the DFT concept by controlling the on-site technology used during museum tours to protect the collection’s security and create a more profound museum experience, enhancing visitors’ curiosity and well-being. Ullen Sentalu also does not reject digital utilization, instead, they create an innovation by optimizing digital content during pre-site and post-site stages to reflect their commitment to staying relevant in the digital era while preserving traditional values in DFT.

This journal originated from the final assignment of the Tourism Article Writing course conducted at the end of 2023. At the beginning of the semester, the authors sought an interesting issue amid the current development of digital technology. Besides its positive impacts, the massive development of digital technology can also have negative impacts on the tourism sector, giving rise to a new theory known as Digital Free Tourism. Interestingly, this concept has already been implemented around us, as exemplified by the Ullen Sentalu Museum. Due to the limited studies on DFT in Indonesia, especially in the context of museums, they decided to explore DFT at the Ullen Sentalu Museum and its connection to “experiencing museum”. They found that DFT is closely related to the tourist experience and enhances curiosity and well-being. Last, An Nuur stated that this topic is undoubtedly intriguing to delve deeper into, as tourism without digital elements actually adds meaning to tourism itself.

The journal can be accessed through: jurnal.ugm.ac.id/tourism_pariwisata/article/download/92457/3818

“A literature alumni can be a banker?!”

Tashia Maharani Tarmizi, an alumni of the English Department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM, who also had the opportunity to participate in a student exchange program at the University of York, has successfully embarked on her career in the banking industry!

Currently, Tashia works at Bank Central Asia, the top-ranked private bank in Asia, as a management trainee under the Management Development Program (MDP). In brief, MDP itself is a one year program created by BCA to train and nurture future leaders in the banking industry through comprehensive in-class lessons and on-the-job training experiences. In one year, trainees will undergo various rotations in different divisions within the company, such as operations, audit, sales and marketing, and credit analysis.

Her experience at BCA made her realize that working in a bank is not as boring as what many people say. During her first rotation, Tashia had the opportunity to learn about how the banking business process goes at one of BCA’s main branches. Not only did she gain practical work experience, she was also trained to think like a banker, with problem solving skills that offer the best solutions to challenges faced by stakeholders. This experience sharpened her knowledge of business industry and also honed her soft skills such as assertive communication, problem solving, and critical thinking.

One thing that she highlights about the program is its highly competitive recruitmnet process. But, she really appreciates how BCA conducts interviews that prioritize two-way communication. This step is genuinely used to understand the candidates in detail, including their background, motivations, personal goals, etc. Additionally, BCA focuses on a strong emphasis on human resource development, hence continuous learning through coaching, in-class lessons, and on-the-job training are integral parts that will be experienced by every candidate.

However, the journey that she had to take (and currently taking, and will take) is not all rainbows and butterflies. Her education background in literature requires her to study even harder, especially in the quantitative realm. Nevertheless, she believes that literature and humanities students have been accustomed to analytical and critical thinking, as well as viewing problems from various persepctives, which adds value to excel in this program and environment. Another challaange she faced was the shift in the working system from WFH (Work from Home) to WFO (Work from Office). As a person accustomed to the WFH system, this gave her another different experience. However, she is beyond grateful for it, as it brought her closer to her friends and colleagues.

One intriguing aspect of Tashia Maharani is that the thought of becoming a banker never crossed her mind. Previously, she worked as a full time entrepreneur at home, building a small business that aligned with her passion. Most people asked her why she gave up on spearheading her business in exchange to going back to corporate life. Her answer is pretty simple, she still has a strong passion and desire to learn. Whether she ends up as a banker or an entrepreneur, she is aware that there is so much she does not know about in this world. Tashia chose MDP because she believes that this program not only teaches how to be a leader but also allows her to meet people from different backgrounds and industries. Moreover, this job brings her closer to various aspects such as economics, trade, investment, etc, which are closely related to people’s daily lives.

In conclusion, Tashia emphasized that the MDP program and the banking industry, in general, is made up of people from diverse backgrounds, most of which are not direclty related to their current jobs. Tashia says, “Just because you come from a certain major, it does not mean that you cannot have a career in the banking industry. The most important thing is to have leadership and interpersonal skills, which can be honed through various activities such as organizations, student exchanges, internships, as well as the ability to analyze and think critically, which will guide you through various challenges.”

Photo 1: Tashia when she was attending the University of York as a student exchange through IISMA program. 

Photo 2: She had an amazing opportunity to visit the Embassy of The Republic of Indonesia to the United Kingdom, Ireland and International Maritime Organization in London.

On Friday, December 8 2023, the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University won second place in the Gadjah Mada University Public Relations Award. This award was given in recognition of the success of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences in the Page Management category. This achievement is the result of dedication and innovation in the public relations program, which involves superior products in six categories, including page management, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, press releases and communication campaigns. This achievement not only strengthens the faculty’s reputation but also becomes an inspiration for the entire academic community in developing innovation in the field of website development at the faculty level.