On January 25th 2024 at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, a Faculty Working Meeting was held. The meeting discussed strategies for achieving Performance Achievement Targets, while the location of the meeting was in rooms 707 and 709 on the 7th floor of the Soegondo building. Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Prof. Dr. Setiadi, S.Sos., M.Si., directly chaired the meeting which was attended by all lecturers at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences for approximately 4 hours starting from 9.00 am. The meeting was held in a hybrid manner and was attended by a total of 154 lecturers as meeting participants.

The Performance Achievement Target itself contains many things regarding the performance of each faculty’s resources, some of which are about things that the faculty has, the growth that is occurring, and what needs to be improved. Strengthening partnership cooperation in tridharma activities involving lecturers and students, developing an integrated innovation ecosystem, as well as increasing recognition of the excellence of study programs at national and international levels were also important points in the meeting. There are 30 indicators mandated directly by universities to faculties. Furthermore, the mandate giver who is the Chancellor of Gadjah Mada University, Prof. Dr. Ova Emilia, M.Med.Ed., Sp.OG(K), Ph.D., through the Planning Directorate will monitor and evaluate the achievement of performance indicator targets periodically/every quarter.

The Faculty of Cultural Sciences has many talented young students whose potential has been recognized by many people, one of them is Alya Ranti Azzahra. The student who is often called Alya, has succeeded in publishing 4 printed books which have been distributed on Gramedia, one of them has been filmed in cinemas & the other one has also been serialized on Genflix. This young woman from West Java is currently studying at the Indonesian Language and Literature department, Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Gadjah Mada University. At just 22 years old, she has already achieved many achievements. She admitted that she had loved reading and writing since childhood. She often took part in competitions and won. That is what then motivated her to take her writing talent more seriously.

In 2018, the rise ofphenomenon made Alya interested in writing and publishing work on that platform. Her first work, entitled The Other Side, has so far been read 23 million times. Since then, her works began to be recognized by readers and she began to write consistently. In 2020, the novel entitled The Other Side was published by Pastel Books, PT Mizan Pustaka. The novel was then filmed nationally in Indonesian cinemas by PT. Lingkar Karya Pratama and broadcast on March 17th 2022. In addition, her work entitled Broken Memories was broadcast on Genflix and succeeded in occupying the second highest position in the most watched series.

Alya admits that she feels happy when writing. According to her, she can express whatever is in her head without having to communicate it directly. “Because my mind is quite full and I like to imagine many things, I feel that writing is a ‘container’ for me. On the other hand, I think writing is like sharing feelings with other people. I can also create a new world. Also, I can express myself through the characters I create in the story.” She said on January 25th 2024 when she was asked about the reason why she liked writing so much. Furthermore, she also shared several tips for writing and producing work, such as:

• Always write from heart! It sounds classic, but anything written from the heart will definitely reach other hearts. Write sincerely and position yourself as if you are the character you are writing about.
• Consistent! Consistency in writing stories is really necessary. Especially as a digital writer. Readers are more likely to read our writing when we consistently write stories.
• Want to learn. You can start by learning about writing from writing books, writing seminars, and writers who have written before to find out writing tips. Apart from that, you also want to learn to develop yourself. Because now social media is developing very quickly.
• Read lots of books! To become a writer, of course you have to read a lot of books to find inspiration and increase your vocabulary.
• Be open to all suggestions and criticism, often chat with lots of people, be more sensitive to the environment around us because many new and brilliant ideas come from it.

In closing, Alya gives advice to the prospective writers that when we decide to become writers, we give our whole body and soul to the writing. We have to really like the world of writing. Write a story honestly and from the heart. Always be open to suggestions and criticism, often chat with people, & never stop learning. Just have fun writing, but don’t forget to come from the heart! She hopes that her journey to achieve success can motivate and provide valuable lessons for many people.