Bonn, (2/3) UIN Sunan Kalijaga has collaborated with FIBAA (Foundation for International Business Administration Accreditation) to improve the accreditation of its study programs (Prodi) in PTKIN (State Islamic Religious Higher Education), especially those programs offered by Sunan Kalijaga.

"As directed by the Minister of Religious Affairs of Indonesia, to ensure that PTKI is included in World Class University, we want to participate and initiate efforts to encourage other PTKIN to prepare for international accreditation schemes."

This was conveyed by Iswandi Syahputra, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs and Institutional Development of UIN Sunan Kalijaga in Bonn, Germany, after visiting the FIBAA office (1/3).

As a follow-up to this initiative, UIN Sunan Kalijaga will hold a workshop on Outcame Based Education (OBE), involving FIBAA and several other interested PTKIN.

"As the oldest PTKIN, UIN Sunan Kalijaga wants to continue to grow together with other PTKIN so that they can be more competitive globally, especially in the field of student affairs such as student mobility and strengthening access to internationalization of students," said Abdur Rozaki, Vice Rector for Student Affairs and Cooperation of UIN Sunan Kalijaga.

Previously, 18 study programs at UIN Sunan Kalijaga were visited by the international accreditation agency based in Bonn, Germany.

"To improve the quality sustainably, currently there are 18 study programs at UIN Sunan Kalijaga that are still being evaluated by FIBAA. There are some notes from FIBAA regarding the cluster during the assessment last time that still need to be discussed directly," said Muhammad Fakhri Husein, the Head of LPM UIN Sunan Kalijaga.

According to Fakhri, the visit to FIBAA is specifically a follow-up to the previous Field Assessment.

"There were some notes during the last assessment that we need to follow up, for example regarding the accumulation of credits. We immediately held a workshop to revise according to FIBAA's notes. That is the result that we bring and discuss with FIBAA," he explained.

However, the visit to FIBAA is also intended to explore various possibilities for cooperation to improve the quality of higher education.

"We believe that one of the most difficult things to obtain international accreditation is the preparation of OBE and accreditation forms. We need a special workshop by inviting experts from FIBAA to Indonesia. God willing, we will invite interested PTKIN and PTN, PTS to accelerate international accreditation to attend the workshop," he said.

Meanwhile, FIBAA Managing Director Diene Freinerger welcomed the initiative to accelerate international accreditation by UIN Sunan Kalijaga.

"We have many professional experts in preparing OBE. We will visit Indonesia and are ready to cooperate in organizing the workshop," she said.

Meanwhile, FIBAA's International Procedures Officer, Viktoria Dermanowski, was pleased to receive a visit from UIN Sunan Kalijaga. She believed that this visit demonstrates the seriousness of UIN Sunan Kalijaga in improving the quality sustainably.

"Yes, we are very pleased that UIN Sunan Kalijaga responded quickly and was disciplined in responding to FIBAA's notes during the site visit last time. Some revisions provided will be reviewed by us," she said.

The visit of UIN Sunan Kalijaga to FIBAA in Bonn, Germany was attended by Iswandi Syahputra (Vice Rector I), Abdur Rozaki (Vice Rector III), Muhammad Fakhri Husein (Chairman of LPM) andNuristighfari Masri Khaerani (Secretary of LPM). The UIN Sunan Kalijaga team was received directly by Managing Director FIBAA Diene Freinerger, Deputy Managing Director Martin Rockenfeller, International Procedures Viktoria Dermanowski, Project Manager Adriane Janosch, and Friderike Uphoff. (Ihza)