Wednesday, May 8, 2024, Archaeology students of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM conducted a field study activity with a visit to Istura Gedung Agung or known as the Presidential Palace of Yogyakarta. As a fulfillment of the mandatory Basic Conservation and Restoration course, this visit involved two batches of Archaeology students, Class of 2021 and Class of 2022, totaling more than 70 students who were guided by the Head of the UGM Archaeology Department, Dr. Mahirta, MA… The students each departed and arrived at the location at 08.30 WIB to gather and give directions by the mentors and instructors regarding matters that need to be considered during the visit.

The tour of the visiting group began with an introduction to the outside of the complex building around Istura Gedung Agung such as the guesthouse and the main building of Istura Gedung Agung along with a brief introduction to the three main rooms where the President welcomed guests. Next, the group of students was directed to the museum building, the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace Museum, to conduct an exclusive tour of the museum’s historical object collections with the art object management guide of the Yogyakarta Presidential Palace Museum, Theresa Sekar Wening, who is also an alumni of the Javanese Language, Literature and Culture Undergraduate Study Program.

While visiting the museum, the group was shown collections of art objects painted by famous artists such as expressionism or abstract paintings by painter Affandi Koesoema as well as a number of ceramic pottery artifacts, necklaces, and others. Not only seeing paintings and historical artifacts, the students also analyzed the conservation methods and techniques of historical objects according to the objectives of the courses studied. Through interactive museum visits, students are expected to gain knowledge that can be practiced when managing historical and archaeological objects as part of museum management.

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.

On Saturday, March 23, 2024, the Association of Indonesian Literature Scholars Commissariat Jember (HISKI Jember) in collaboration with the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education of Muhammadiyah Jember University (FKIP Unmuh Jember), the Department of Indonesian Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, University of Jember (FIB UNEJ), Semiotics Journal, Cultural Context Literature Research Group (PERSADA), Oral Tradition and Local Wisdom Research Group (TERKELOK), Teen and Children’s Literature Research Group (TCLRG), and Center for English Literature and Culture (CELC), held a National Webinar entitled, NGONTRAS #32 (32nd Metasastra National Chat), This webinar invited the Head of the Department of Language and Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences UGM, Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum, as a guest speaker who discussed the theme of travel literature with a presentation entitled, “Travel Writing: According to Carl Thompson”. This activity took place from 10.00 – 12.00 WIB with a series of opening, presentation by Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum. and Dr. Rahayu Puji Haryanti, M.Hum., question and answer discussion, and closing with a symbolic certificate award.

The presentation by Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum., began with an explanation of the theme of travel literature according to Carl Thompson, who stated that travel literature is the result of an encounter and negotiations over the differences or similarities that accompany it. All travel writing has two intertwined aspects, a report on the wider world and a record of an unknown person or place, revealing the writer’s self along with values, inclinations, assumptions, and culture in addition to the culture addressed by the travel story. The function of travel stories is to inform the outside world, reveal the self, and represent the other.

In addition, a number of literary works are presented as examples of discussion, each of which is explained in terms of the three functions previously mentioned. The literary works are novels that are dissected for exposure to identify and review parts of the novel. From the series of national webinar activities that have been held, this activity is also part of the Community Service carried out by Dr. Sudibyo, M.Hum., in the form of education and creating a national level literature and literature discussion space.

Yogyakarta, Saturday, March 9, 2024 – The culmination of the 18th annual Korean Day was held by the Korean Language and Culture Study Program of Universitas Gadjah Mada at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences. The performers blended the cultures of the two countries through their costumes to adding a touch of Indonesian culture into their performances, for example by performing not only Korean songs, but also Indonesian songs.

This year, Korean Day was themed “Hallyunesia Wonderland” to celebrate Indonesian and Korean culture. The event was also enlivened by performances from various dongari (clubs) of UGM Korean Language and Culture Study Program, namely Samulnori, Hansamchum, Katarsis Sing, Katarsis Dance, Talchum, and Buchaechum. There were food, beverage, and accessory tenants that filled the venue. The Random Play Dance session and the appearance of the guest star, Nadafid, were the highlights of the event. Then, there was also a Noraebang (karaoke) session which also closed the Korean Day 18 event.

The entire series of the 18th Korean Day event is expected to be a source of inspiration for Korean culture lovers, providing a forum for creativity and community while encouraging the preservation of Indonesian culture. In addition, Korean Day is one of the media forms of cooperation with parties who have contributed to the success of the event.

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.