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The School of Political Science and Laws to Act as the Main Facilitator of WU-Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta MOU Activities
November 1, 2021
On October 29, 2021, Professor Dr. Surasit Vajirakachorn, Dean of the School of Political Science and Laws, along with staff members from the ASEAN Studies Major of the Political Science Program, witnessed and discussed academic cooperation at the signing ceremony of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Walailak University and Yogyakarta State University (Universitas Negeri Yogyakarta: UNY), Indonesia.
The MOU for Academic Cooperation between the two universities was signed during the event by Professor Dr. Sombat Thamrongthanyawong, President of Walailak University, and Prof. Dr. Sumaryanto, M. Kes, President of Yogyakarta State University. The signing ceremony, which was held online, was attended by 35 executives, professors, and staff from Yogyakarta State University and 20 from Walailak University.
This official academic collaboration agreement between the two universities substantially enhanced the connection from previous informal cooperation efforts. Yogyakarta State University generously accommodated lecturers from the School of Political Science and Laws who went to Yogyakarta to do research. Later, ASEAN Studies staff and the Bahasa Indonesia for Non-Native Speakers Program (Bahasa Indonesia bagi Penutur Asing: BIPA), Faculty of Languages and Arts, Yogyakarta State University collaborated on the project “Belajar Bahasa Thailand” or “Learn Thai,” in which ASEAN Studies staff designed a course to teach Thai language and conducted it online for Yogyakarta State University students in August 2021.
During the signing ceremony, the executives of both universities explored approaches and frameworks for future collaboration. The student exchange program was an intriguing collaborative venture. This was due to the fact that the ASEAN Studies had previously conducted the WU Field Experience Project by sending students to attend the short course and participate in socio-cultural activities at several universities in Indonesia for many years. At the same time, some Indonesian students have been admitted to study and reside at Walailak University. Initiating this program with Yogyakarta State University will provide excellent opportunity for Political Science and Laws students to learn about the people and city of Yogyakarta, a city rich in culture and history.
In terms of teaching and academic activities, various frameworks have been proposed for future cooperation projects, such as the project to teach Thai language to students of Yogyakarta State University, which was already set for the next operation in 2022. It was also suggested that in the future, an academic conference be co-hosted in the manner of an International Conference, and so on.
Several initiatives in the realm of research and academic collaboration were highlighted. Walailak University, for example, was eager to be a host institution for academic researchers from Yogyakarta State University doing research in Thailand or the southern part of Thailand. They also agreed to push the academic staff and researchers of the two universities to develop joint research projects, such as a comparative study of interesting topics in the two countries, or the possibility of developing grand research projects studying local politics in Yogyakarta and Nakhon Si Thammarat, among other things.
Yogyakarta State University, founded in 1964, is a university with a longstanding history of excellence in the field of education. This university’s competence has now been significantly extended to other disciplines of knowledge. There is a graduate school along with seven faculties that operate, including the Faculty of Education, the Faculty of Languages and Arts, the Faculty of Social Science, the Faculty of Economics, the Faculty of Sport Science, the Faculty of Mathematics and Science, and the Faculty of Engineering. There are also numerous well-known university institutions, including the Bahasa Indonesia for Non-Native Speakers Program, which has a long history of teaching Indonesian language to international students.
