Indonesia
Muhammad Fatoni Rohman, M.Pd. when Giving Presentations
The development of foreign students learning the Indonesian language and culture through the BIPA (Indonesian Language for Foreign Speakers) programme is now even more encouraging. In 2022, according to BIPA data from the Ministry of Education and Culture, there are more than 38 countries in the world that teach BIPA. This indicates that the position of the Indonesian language is increasingly being accepted by the world community. Not to mention the BIPA students also directly study in Indonesia, one of which is at Universitas Brawijaya (UB).
UB as one of the favorite universities in Indonesia also takes part in the development and learning of BIPA. Since the opening of the BIPA learning programme under the auspices of the Faculty of Cultural Studies (FCS), BIPA enthusiasts have experienced an increase. This can be seen from the BIPA learning programmes that are already running, such as the Darmasiswa RI programme, the Developing Countries Partnership (Kemitraan Negara Berkembang or KNB), and also the independent course scheme.
As a step to improve the quality of BIPA learning in UB, FCS UB recently held a Forum Group Discussion (FGD) on BIPA Curriculum. The FGD activities were held from October to November 2022. These activities were held to strengthen the BIPA curriculum by strengthening the character of the curriculum based on local wisdom.
According to Muhammad Fatoni Rohman, M.Pd., the Chairman of the BIPA FGD as well as the Coordinator of the BIPA LBEKRAF FCS UB Division, the FGD was carried out in three stages of implementation.
“The first stage is to discuss the BIPA ideal curriculum. In this session, the teams were tasked with drafting a characteristic-based BIPA curriculum plan. Then, in the second phase of the FGD, they discussed options for grouping BIPA learning according to their specialization. The third stage is FGD regarding BIPA learning materials. Through the three stages of the FGD, the results were reported at the faculty level as input for policies related to the BIPA programme,” he explained.
“This FGD is expected to become a blueprint regarding the direction of BIPA learning, especially at the FCS UB in the future. Because, even though currently BIPA learning is already underway, for the sake of improving quality it is always necessary to make efforts to improve the quality both in terms of curriculum, programmes, and learning,” he added.
The BIPA FGD
The dean of FCS UB, Hamamah. Ph.D., also suggested the results of the FGD activities. According to her, the efforts made to strengthen BIPA have been very good. However, follow-up is also needed.
“I support and hope that BIPA can be developed and can even become part of the faculty and university promotion programme abroad. It is hoped that this programme can attract foreign students to be interested and eventually study in Indonesia, especially in UB and FCS. Therefore, in the future it is necessary to continue to take steps which of course must be in synergy with each other,” she said during the report on the results of the FGD team.
The FGD also invited BIPA practitioners from Universitas Islam Malang (Unisma), Prayitno, M.Pd. On this occasion, he was invited as a guest speaker to talk about the BIPA reflection and curriculum. According to him, BIPA is a very strategic programme. BIPA is a one way to promote institutions abroad. However, managing BIPA requires collaboration with many parties. It is because BIPA does not only concern learning matters but also other matters such as administrative issues, immigration, and even personal problems of foreign students.
“BIPA is indeed a strategic programme, but the challenges in managing BIPA are also quite big. Collaboration between parties is the key to BIPA’s building,” concluded this lecturer who once taught BIPA in Azerbaijan. [khilmi/dts/aaz/PR FCS]