The UM delegates visited the International Office of Hasanuddin University (IO) for a co-sharing internationalisation program in both universities. The welcome inbound staff was completed from Tuesday - Wednesday, December 12 - 13, 2023.
The visit was warmly welcomed by Andi Masyitha Irwan, Ph.D (Head of IO), Muhammad Ridwan, M.A. (Secretary of IO), Rafika Ramdhani Ramli, L.LM (Taskforce of IO), and other IO staff. The delegation of UM represented by Ms Nuzul Fatihin Izatil Azman (Assistant Registrar), Mrs Geeta Gengatharan (Administrative Assistant), Mr Muhammad Ridzwan Bin Mohd Rashid (Assistant Registrar) and Ms Dayang Siti Khadijah Binti Awang Bujang (Administrative Assistant).
This two-day visit was rich with sessions such as Introduction to UNHAS and International Office staff introduction, student mobility programs, IO supports, Campus tour, IO marketing activities, student engagement programs and UM representative presentation.
On Day #1, the inbound staff joined the UNHAS and International Office introduction session that Ms. Masyitha delivered. In her presentation, she described the UNHAS profile and IO staff profiles.
She continued with the next session, the student mobility program. UNHAS has implemented several mobility programs, such as the International Cultural Program (ICP). University students from several countries, such as Australia, Honduras, Malaysia, Pakistan, China, Vietnam, India, etc., participated in the ICP.
This seven-day program consisted of three-day classroom lectures and another three days for local trips to specific areas related to maritime culture, the fundamental aspect of UNHAS. She also explained UNHAS numbers of faculty, campuses and several achievements, including the QS Ranking of the university.
Other sessions on the first day included introducing IO’s support, including student volunteers and a special task force at the faculty level. The last session was a campus tour. The UM delegates visited the UNHAS library and international corners on this campus tour. These included German Corner, Korean Corner, Mandarin Corner, Waroeng Perancis and Aussie Banget Corner.
The next day, the delegates received marketing activities from the IO that Muhammad Ridwan, M.A., delivered. These included utilising social media such as Facebook and Instagram to promote IO’s programs and activities. This aims to reach out to potential participants, including students, lecturers and staff, to participate in any program the office offers.
The next session was presenting IO’s program in engaging students, such as Unhas Day (UD), International Students Festival (ISF), International Students Association (ISA) and services for students and guests. One session that was also a great one was the presentation from the UM delegates.
In promoting UM programs and activities, UNHAS IO learned a lot, particularly in recruiting and attracting international students to UM. Another interesting point from the UM presentation was the strategic counting of their inbound students. UM employs a minimum of 4 hours of attendance from international students in any activities offered by the UM to be claimed as its inbound students. This part was an excellent lesson learned.
The inbound staff program ended with a photo session and token exchange. Both parties were looking forward to UNHAS IO's visit to the UM shortly to learn other things.
