Yogyakarta, October 7, 2025 – Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) has once again achieved an outstanding milestone in the global education arena. According to the 2025 EduRank global ranking, UGM secured the first position in Indonesia and ranked 564th in the world, placing it among the top 50% of universities across 186 research fields.

This achievement serves as tangible evidence of UGM’s consistency in realizing quality education (SDG 4) through strengthened research, innovation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. EduRank recorded a total of 58,718 academic publications and 317,379 citations affiliated with UGM, reflecting the university’s significant contribution to global knowledge development.

The ranking was determined based on three main factors: research performance, non-academic reputation, and the impact of its alumni. The contributions of 101 distinguished alumni further enhance UGM’s influence in building sustainable partnerships and collaborations across various sectors, aligning with the spirit of partnerships for the goals (SDG 17).

Moreover, this accomplishment also reflects UGM’s commitment to promoting innovation and resilient infrastructure (SDG 9) through impactful research that directly benefits society. By prioritizing solution-oriented and relevant studies, UGM continues to play an active role in fostering innovations that support sustainable development in Indonesia and beyond.

Through this achievement, UGM reaffirms its dedication to strengthening the role of higher education in shaping an inclusive, innovative, and sustainable future for all.

[Public Relations of Faculty of Cultural Sciences, UGM – Alma Syahwalani]

Yogyakarta, September 19, 2025– The vibrant atmosphere filled the Gelanggang Inovasi dan Kreativitas (GIK) UGM as the Gamarupa Art Exhibition took place from September 14–20, 2025. Organized by the UGM Fine Arts Unit, the exhibition became a platform for artistic appreciation and a stage for students from various faculties, including those from the Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) UGM, to present their works.

One of the highlights was “One Thousand and Wish” by Claudius Genesius Hartoko, a student from the Korean Language and Culture Study Program, FIB UGM. The artwork tells the story of Sadako Sasaki, a 12-year-old girl who suffered from leukemia caused by the Hiroshima bombing. Inspired by the legend of a thousand paper cranes, Claudius’ piece symbolizes resilience and hope in the face of hardship.

In addition to Claudius, several other FIB UGM students contributed their creative works to the exhibition, including Marinie Alina Fadila, Nisa Safira, Devina Hanin Natasyha, H. D. Putri, Wanita Perkasa Bijaksana, Hida Cintia Putri Nugroho, Sabrina Azmi Shafa Az Zahro, and Rania Adawia Yasin. Their presence enriched the exhibition and demonstrated how humanities students can merge cultural insight with visual art to convey powerful messages.

Throughout the week-long event, visitors not only enjoyed the displayed artworks but also engaged in a series of activities such as the opening ceremony, talk shows, artwork discussions, workshops, and collaborative drawing sessions. The open-for-public event attracted enthusiastic audiences and created an interactive space between artists, students, and the community.

The exhibition highlights that FIB UGM students are not only focused on studying culture, language, and history but are also capable of expressing ideas through visual art. Their participation reflects the creative spirit of FIB UGM and its meaningful contribution to the public sphere.

[Public Relations of FIB UGM, Candra Solihin]

Yogyakarta, 1/9/2025 – The Arabic Study Program, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Gadjah Mada, has introduced an Entrepreneurship lecture led by Dr. Ir. Siti Andarwati, S.Pt., MP., IPU., ASEAN Eng. The lecture is designed to provide students with entrepreneurial insights focused on fostering innovative, impactful, and sustainable mindsets.

In its opening lecture, students were introduced to the scope of entrepreneurship, the urgency of cultivating young entrepreneurs in Indonesia, and their role in driving national economic growth. Referring to data from Statistics Indonesia (BPS), the lecture highlighted how the limited availability of formal jobs must be balanced with the creation of new business opportunities, particularly among the younger generation.

The class also emphasized the philosophical differences between entrepreneurship and wirausaha (sociopreneurship). While entrepreneurship is often rooted in Western individualistic philosophy, the Indonesian concept of wirausaha underscores harmony between individual and community, aiming for broader social benefits.

Students were further equipped with knowledge of entrepreneurial psychological profiles, including self-confidence, results orientation, risk-taking, and future-oriented thinking. The Plan-Do-Check-Action (PDCA) cycle was introduced as a key strategy for building consistent and sustainable business practices.

As part of the interactive session, students worked in small groups to develop and present business ideas, focusing on identifying market opportunities, crafting business plans, and showcasing product innovations. These activities were designed to sharpen their teamwork, problem-solving, and presentation skills while encouraging creative thinking.

Through this course, Arabic Study Program students are expected to cultivate creative and innovative mindsets while viewing entrepreneurship as a meaningful path to contribute to sustainable development. The program also supports the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), and SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure).

Author: Muhammad Ardiansyah

Yogyakarta, 21/3/2025 – Keluarga Mahasiswa Antropologi (Kemant) UGM went westward to the Faculty of Engineering, to visit the Library of the Department of Mechanical and Civil Engineering (DTMI). DTMI has been sending invitations to student bodies all across the university to visit their library, to share what they’ve been developing these past few months: a library that provides a comfortable public space for students. The library sits on the southern part of the department building, right next to the parking lot. The space inside it is moderately big, about twice the size of the Anthropology Reading Room on the fifth floor of Soegondo. In front of the entrance, sits a locker for students to put their bags in.  Next to that is the receptionist table, and next to that are rows of tall bookshelves filled all the way to the top. Books of many different kinds can be found; from the typical engineering books about Autocad and metallurgy, to fictional novels and even some biographies. Beside these bookshelves, many students are sitting in an arrangement of tables – some are doing their homework, some are playing board games, and some are merely socializing with each other. The library has a built-in decibel-meter, used to measure the sound level in the room; it beeps loudly when the sound goes over a certain threshold, a reminder to the students to keep it down. Aside from the main room with shelves and tables, the library also holds two isolated rooms – walled up with glass – to serve as meeting/reading rooms, where students who need more silence can go and sit.

Dhika, a third-year mechanical engineering student serving part-time as the library keeper, explained that this vibrant atmosphere is a relatively new experience. Back then, the DTMI Library was a cramped space that seldom held visitors. With dreams of an easy and accessible public space for students, Dhika and a few friends of his then advocated for the improvement of the library. The space was renovated, lifting up the ceiling and widening the interior. The book collection was expanded to hold more kinds of books, not just limited to engineering guides. Some professors also donated to the library’s collection; not just books, but also board games to enrich the place. Another thing that changed was the opening hours. Whereas back then the library was only open during working hours on Monday to Friday, nowadays the place can be accessed by students from morning until night, seven days a week. With these changes, the library became a gathering place where students can spend their time on campus, facilitated by the existence of myriad books and games in the library. The once-barren place is now filled with student activity, and the whole place became more lively.

After the tour, the Kemant representatives were free to explore the library by themselves. Some read the new book additions that haven’t been sorted into shelves, but most tried to play the board games that are available. While accompanying the excited students, Dhika reiterated the point of this visit: spreading awareness to students from all over UGM about the importance of a common space such as the DTMI Library, and to help realize the dream of a public space for students from all faculties and departments.

Author: Amadeus Abhirama Paramanindita

Yogyakarta, 27/8/2025 – The Master’s Program in Linguistics, Faculty of Cultural Sciences (FIB) Universitas Gadjah Mada, held a public lecture entitled “An Outside Perspective: Classifying Languages in Multilingual Spoken Corpora” at the R. Soegondo Auditorium. The event was open to both the academic community and the general public, featuring Dr. Zara Maxwell-Smith, Lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), UNSW Canberra, as the keynote speaker.

The lecture was officially opened by the Head of the Linguistics Master’s Program, Prof. Dr. Suhandano, M.A. In his remarks, he encouraged participants to collaborate in advancing linguistic research and to make the most of the opportunity to learn from the invited speaker.

In her presentation, Dr. Zara first highlighted the major challenges in building multilingual spoken corpora. She explained that such corpora are notoriously difficult to annotate and describe. The difficulties include managing non-verbal cues in transcripts, converting oral communication rules into written systems across different languages, transcriber subjectivity, and the significant amount of time required for manual transcription.

She then presented findings from her research on Indonesian Language for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) classroom data. According to her, teachers’ speech is part of their professional identity, and training data can shape perceptions of teaching practice as well as teachers’ understanding of their own work. This, she noted, calls for sensitive approaches to avoid negative impacts on employment and professional reputation.

Despite these challenges, Dr. Zara emphasized the empirical benefits of such research. The findings provide valuable insights for teachers, curriculum developers, educational researchers, and policymakers. Moreover, the study helps advance the teaching of Indonesian, contributes to resources for bilingual natural language processing (NLP), and places education at the center of technological applications in the field of language.