Department of MSP IPB University Shares Efforts to Improve Academic Performance at the University of Borneo Tarakan, North Kalimantan
Prof Hefni Effendi, Chairman of the Department of Aquatic Resources Management (MSP), Faculty of Fisheries and Marine Science (FPIK) IPB University shared efforts to improve academic performance in a workshop held at the University of Borneo Tarakan (UBT), North Kalimantan. Efforts to improve academic performance are carried out via sharpening the learning outcome hierarchy of the courses taught at the UBT MSP Department, in order to improve the competence of its graduates.
The sharpening of learning outcomes begins with the reformulation of the vision and mission of the UBT MSP Department to be adaptive to market demands and graduate users. The workshop was attended by all lecturers in the UBT MSP Study Programme. To obtain input from external parties (stakeholders), UBT has conducted workshops by inviting alumni and graduate users. A number of inputs were given in the context of curriculum reconstruction.
“Periodically, the learning curriculum must indeed be updated so that it is always adaptive to the developing science and the real needs in the world of work. In fact, the curriculum needs to be enriched with instruments that support the management of aquatic resources with contemporary nuances, which is currently a trend among the business world, researchers and academics,” said Prof Hefni.
Based on the vision and mission, the hierarchy of learning outcomes is cascaded to each course that is currently applied. A number of courses were also dissected and reviewed to what extent they had accommodated the intended learning outcomes.
“Through this cascading, a number of course modifications are obtained through mergers and the addition of certain subjects in the Semester Learning Plan (RPS) of the course to substitute courses that have been agreed to be less relevant to current conditions,” he explained.
In addition, Prof Hefni added that the Freedom of Learning – Independence Campus (MBKM) programme should be implemented by all universities, including UBT. MBKM is included as part of a curriculum that has a semester credit unit (SKS) load. Therefore, MBKM is part of academic activities that must be followed by all students. The implementation of MBKM is an assessment material for the performance of university achievements known as the main performance indicator (IKU) terminology.
“In fact, the government provides grants through the Merdeka Campus Competitive Programme (PKKM) to accelerate the implementation of MBKM. This grant is also so that the MBKM programme implemented by the study programme can be structured. In this case, IPB University’s MSP Study Programme received the grant in 2023 and 2024. The structured MBKM that is carried out is the thematic MBKM Blue Carbon an Blue Economy, “explained Prof Hefni.
In this sharing discussion at UBT, the latest vision and mission of the UBT MSP Department has been formulated, which carries the concept of UBT as a university located on the front porch of Indonesia, which is on the border with Malaysia and the Philippines. In addition, there is a unique course that characterises UBT, namely the fisheries resource share stock course, given the presence of freshwater fish and marine fish that travel between countries, both for breeding and feeding.
“Course reconstruction in the context of integrating the MBKM program has also been successfully carried out, thus, an increase in UBT’s IKU through the application of MBKM can also be achieved in the future,” hoped the Dean of FPIK UBT, Dr Rukisah when closing this sharing. He hopes that UBT’s cooperation with IPB University will not only stop here, but can run in the frame of other tridharma of higher education activities. (IAAS/RUM)
