News Features (individual)

 

THE STRUGGLE OF MODUL NUSANTARA 5 : THE BEAUTIFUL LAND OF TORAJA SOUTH SULAWESI IN THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM AT UNIVERSITY OF ISLAMIC MAKASSAR

The independent student exchange of University of Islamic Makassar at the Island of Toraja, South Sulawesi (LO MN5)

Destri Fazryani Lestari

Jakarta, Dec 18^th 2023 – Students throughout Indonesia have the opportunity to try programs created by KEMENDIKBUD (Mr. Nadiem Anwar Makarim, B.A., M.B.A.). One of the programs he created is the independent student exchange or what is called (PMM), where students throughout Indonesia are allowed to choose the intended campus to exchange with students on other campuses. Until now, the PMM program has entered batch 3 which will soon finish its program period.

Makassar Islamic University is one of the campuses that opens for PMM students. In each PMM activity, students not only learn about academics on other campuses, but will be introduced to the culture, variety and ethnicity in each region.

One of the PMM 2 students, Ilham Asta, a student of public administration science from UPN Veteran East Java shared his experience during the student exchange program. "I first joined this program because I was invited by my classmates, as time went on until we finally graduated together with the same destination campus, I finally enjoyed Makassar.", "Makassar for me is a new city that I visited, a lot of natural beauty that I got there and a very cool culture that I only knew the original after learning directly to the place."

The PMM program has an activity called the Nusantara Module (MN) which will be accompanied by 1 supervisor and 1 LO. At UIM, it is divided into 5 Nusantara Modules, each MN also has different activities every week. The land of Toraja is the last destination by all MNs, except MN 5 because many destinations have consumed a lot of budget costs in each activity, they are also one of the MNs who managed to have activities to the top of Mount Bulusaraung.

According to Ilham and his MN 5 friends, it would be lacking if there was an opportunity to go to South Sulawesi but could not step on the Land of Toraja because the people there are still thick with customs and there are many cultures that must be learned there. Until finally they made a business, looking for their own funds to get to the Land of Toraja. Starting from photo services using Ilham cameras and printing them, Jastip souvenirs typical of Makassar and Tanah Toraja, to NOIR (Nongkrong Terakhir) with the target of PMM 2 UIM students and throughout Indonesia. Until we were named the "DANUS Group".

The supervisor of MN 5, Muhammad Iqbal, one of the UIM Pharmacist lecturers and also a lecturer for the archipelago 5 module, said he was proud of his MN 5 students, "I am very proud of them, they are great children, have ambitions that make people who see them amazed because of their strong sense of family to be able to go to the land of Toraja with their own funds without using any of their personal money, which of course to get to the land of Toraja can reach 300-400 per person multiplied by 21 students, not to mention me and my family and several people or brothers who they invited to go there."

For all students who participated in this exchange program, it has its own impressions, especially MN 5. They not only learn about academics and local culture, but they can also learn how they are responsible for what they start, practice a sense of family, practice how to do business in a foreign city, which will certainly build their confidence and meaningful experiences for them.

With this KEMENDIKBUD program, especially PMM, it will be very beneficial for all students in Indonesia. Students are given many facilities that are sufficient to become a superior generation for the country.