Internationalization Info, Self-Development Program for Buddies
Internationalization Info, Self-Development Program for Buddies. Realizing Telkom University‘s vision as a World Class University, the International Office welcomed it with great enthusiasm by preparing qualified knowledge for staff and international student’s buddies. Entitled “Get to Know More about Internationalization!”, this self-development program was held on Monday, June 7th 2021 through the ZOOM meeting, and invited Indah Fajarwati, S.E., M.M, a manager of International Office Telkom University as a speaker.
The event opened with a simple question, “What is Internationalization?”, It is enough to lead participants to several opinions. And on this occasion, Mrs. Indah explained nicely how internationalization has become an important thing in today’s globalized world. According to Jane Knight (1993) as mentioned in Mrs. Indah’s presentation, the Internationalization in Higher Education can be defined as the process of integrating an international/intercultural dimension into the teaching, research, and service functions of the institutions. Deeper, the internationalization is divided into two main pillars; there are Internationalization at home and Abroad/Cross border.
Internationalization Knowledge for Student
Along with Tel-U’s vision of a World Class University, internationalization became vital. Various forms of international cooperation are opened, including admitting many foreign students to participate in education at Telkom University. The presence of these foreign students, who in fact have many differences, raises various potential challenges such as academic, social, and cultural barriers. This is part of internationalization. For this reason, various ways are needed to assist these foreign students to go through their study period at Tel-U. One of them is by preparing the International Office Student Buddy Club (IOSBC).
Mrs. Indah added that the buddies in the IOSBC are one of the key successes for Telkom University achieving the Internationalization by improving the welcome phase and the integration of international students, promoting intercultural exchange and open-mindedness, and strengthening student mobility facilities and enable the local stakeholders to develop long-lasting partnership.
There are many systems in the world that regulate Buddy, for example in the United States, the buddy roles as a peer support. This system provides peer to peer support, help student through the transition into the new culture, especially the first few weeks of their semester. The same shoes also apply in Indonesia with slightly different in the term of volunteer. Every university in the world are working on internationalization.
Lasted more than an hour, the discussion about internationalization involving the International Office staff and the International Office Student Buddy Club (IOSBC) was serious but relaxed. Internationalization can indeed be the topic for afternoon talk. Beside the discussion about the internationalization, this meeting is also become the media for catching up each other’s.(IO)***
