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The sound of raindrops and orchestral music created a very serene and comfortable atmosphere that afternoon in the Open Field of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The students, who at that time were relaxing, discussing with their fellow students and doing assignments, were also carried away by the atmosphere and really enjoyed the performances from the Gadjah Mada Chamber Orchestra (GMCO) plus the melodious voices of two vocalists from Paramadaya, Faculty of Cultural Sciences. Yes, this was an activity from GMCO called “GMCO Tour De Faculty”, where they went around visiting each faculty to present their beautiful playing to the public for free. Exactly on Tuesday, 5th of March 2024, it was the turn of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences to receive this warm visit.

GMCO or Gadjah Mada Chamber Orchestra is one of Gadjah Mada University’s Arts UKM which specializes in the field of orchestral music which has been established since 2008. Currently, they have more than 140 active members including players and managers consisting of Gadjah Mada University students from various departments and educational levels. Not only did it aim to introduce their community to many people in each faculty, but it also turned out that this activity was also a commemoration of their 16th anniversary. Ms. Nurul Rafika, as chairman of GMCO, representing her colleagues said that they really hope that all of you can enjoy this offering.

Double degree program in Heritage studies (UGM) and in critical heritage studies of Asia and Europe (Universiteit Leiden, Netherlands) is a program where postgraduate students, especially those majoring in archeology, can study in two places, namely Indonesia and the Netherlands for two semesters each and will get two degrees at once. In order to socialize this program to archeology students of Gadjah Mada University, the director of the Universiteit Leiden office and KITLV from Jakarta, Marrik Bellen, visited the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. Held in the multimedia room of the Margono building on February 5th 2024 at 2 pm, the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences himself gave a welcoming speech.

This event was attended by archeology postgraduate students both offline and online. Meanwhile, the two main speakers tasked with conveying the program mechanism were Dr. Anggraeni M.A. as the first speaker from Gadjah Mada University and Dr. Elena Paskaleva from Universiteit Leiden as the second speaker. The first speaker discussed the registration mechanism starting from the time period, requirements that must be met, registration requirements, number of students who will be accepted, and many more which can be checked on the um.ugm.ac.id page. For Indonesia. students, they will get two diplomas at once after they complete 1 year of study at their campus in Indonesia and 1 year at Universiteit Leiden. Meanwhile, Leiden students will immediately receive a diploma after completing each 1 year of study.

Through the zoom meeting, the second speaker focused more on explaining the mechanisms during the study. The presentation begins by giving reasons why you should study at Universiteit Leiden and what career prospects that students will get in the future. After that, she began to explain the things that needed to be prepared when studying there, such as preparing the language because all lectures will be held in English, there were 60 EC/European Credit (SKS) a year with 28 hours per EC, and there were many courses that could be chosen. such as Politics, Economics, Literature, Language, and many more. She also provides information about where students have to look for themselves, but can ask others because there are many Indonesian students studying at the university.

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.