In the 21st century, the target of higher education is how to be the best university. The target drives higher education only focus on how to be the best and ignore Islamic values.
Muhammadiyah-affiliated universities possess essential roles in sciences without overlooking Islamic teaching. Thus, the universities are necessary to create human resources having Islamic characters.
In a remark of a meeting of Vice Chancellors of student affairs of Muhammadiyah-affiliated universities on Wednesday (10/8) at hall of graduate school of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Vice Chairperson of DIKTI and Dirlitbang, Dr. Chairil Anwar stated that the 21st century is considered as the industrial revolution and scientific revolution. The revolutions occurred due to the existence of religion and sciences. The notion led to the idea of secularism.
“This century is a scientific century and what makes it exist is higher education. Competitions often try to show who the best is, and disregard religion or Islamic values,” he argued.
In the meeting attended by 34 vice chancellors and discussing ‘Student Development of Muhammadiyah-Affiliated Universities to Bring Muhammadiyah Vision into Reality’, Chairil conveyed that to actualize the vision students should be educated wisely, smartly, firmly, and concernedly. “In character building of higher education, there are three principles of higher education (tri dharma perguruan tinggi), organizations, student activities, regular activities, and academic activities. The difference between Muhammadiyah-affiliated higher education and another higher education is that students of Muhammadiyah universities should take a course Kemuhammadiyahan (Muhammadiyah Movement). The course aims at raising students’ awareness of the importance of implementing Muhammadiyah teaching based on Al-Qur’an,” he inserted.
Besides, Vice Chancellor III of UMY, Sri Atmaja P. Rosyidi, Ph.D. contended that there are two benchmarks at UMY, namely comparative and competitive superiority. “Competitive superiority refers to competitiveness of all aspects. The Al-Qur’an Festival encompasses those two benchmarks,” he mentioned.
Sri Atmaja asserted that the establishment of Muammadiyah-affiliated universities aim at building characters of not only students but also the leaders since the leaders will become the role models of the students. Therefore, strategies to create young intelligent and characterized students are necessary.
“To coin good leadership is through building exemplary and leadership. Leaders should be good role models. Besides, it can be actualized by referring to the vision, understanding, and togetherness. To bring it into reality, UMY often conducts outbound,” he ended.
