Master of Governmental Studies (MIP) of Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) always attempts to enhance its educational quality in national and international levels. In the national level, MIP of UMY achieved ‘A’ accreditation by National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (BAN-PT), while in the international level the program tried to obtain accreditation by Asia Pacific Society for Public Affairs (APSPA).
Three visitors of the APSPA, namely Assoc. Prof. Ahmad Martadha Mohamed, Ph.D. (Universiti Utara Malaysia), Prof. Amporn Tamrongjak, Ph.D. (Tammasat University), and Prof. David N. Almarez (Mindanao State University, the Philippines), had a visit to UMY on Friday (26/5) at meeting hall of Graduate School of UMY. The visit aimed at assessing the performance of MIP of UMY in term of learning and teaching process as well as the performance of lecturers, staffs, and students.
“Staffs, lecturers, and students of MIP of UMY have prepared accreditation documents for these recent six months. The documents are in line with seven standards determined by ASPSA which are vision and mission, objectives, milestone, human resources, curriculum and academic environment, financial standard, infrastructures and information system, as well as research standard, community service project, and cooperation,” mentioned Head of MIP of UMY Dr. Dyah Mutiarin.
She added that the accreditation the international accreditation is essential for an institution to confront globalization era. “In this globalization era, all institutions including educational institutions compete to be the best. UMY now has achieved accreditation from webometric and QS Star, and is attempting to gain world ranking since one of UMY’s goals is to be a world-class university. To reach the goal, the accreditation by an international agency such ASPSA is significant,” declared Dyah.
After accredited ‘A’ by BAN-PT in December 2016, Dyah told that the staffs, lecturers, and staffs, lecturers, and students of MIP of UMY has not celebrated it. ”We evaluated points getting less score and whether or not we have met all standards in order that we can obtain the best acknowledgment or accreditation from international parties,” she said.
Additionally, MIP of UMY has had cooperation with several institutions in Southeast Asia. “The cooperation is in term of student exchange, staff exchange, and research collaboration with Southeast Asia universities. We would like to enhance the cooperation in Asia-Pacific regions. Thus, the accreditation by the ASPSA is expected to broaden the cooperation of MIP of UMY to Asia-Pacific countries,” wished Dyah.
