[Unpad.ac.id, 1/5/2017] Rector of Universitas Padjadjaran, Prof. Tri Hanggono Achmad signed a Memorandum of Understanding with two universities in China, namely Guangxi University for Nationalities (GXUN) and Xiangsihu College of Guangxi University for Nationalities. The signing was conducted when the Rector made an official visit to Nanning, Guangxi, China, 26-28 April.
The Rector’s visit to Nanning was a full invitation from Xiangsihu College University to attend their 15th anniversary celebration. Besides signing the MoU, this visit is also a return visit after the President of Xiangsihu College, Prof. Nong Kezhong visited Unpad on December 23, 2016. Nanning Guangxi, known as Green City is located in Southern China. It is directly adjacent to Vietnam, so it is positioned as China’s main gateway to Southeast Asia. Province of Guangxi is an autonomous region with a population approximately 6.9 million and becomes an important area for China in the future. Nowadays, Guangxi is developing in various sectors including in the field of research, education and technology.
The first signing was done by the Rector with President of Guangxi University for Nationalities, Xie Shangguo, last Thursday (26/04). The President of GXUN expressed his appreciation for the cooperation with Universitas Padjadjaran. Shangguo said that as a university that has a major strength in Southeast Asian studies, this collaboration with Universitas Padjadjaran will enrich the various of Indonesian studies that have been existed.
The 65-year-old Guangxi University for Nationalities has five faculties that have Indonesian Language subject. Both in the Indonesian Language Study Program, as well as in other courses that make Indonesian as the second compulsory language that must be mastered. Visiting the university,Rector of Universitas Padjadjaran also said that collaboration on language and culture is an important field because it becomes the key to enter other fields of science. Learning languages and cultures should be within the framework of a particular context so that it can be more applicable. In addition, according to the Rector, in cooperation both parties are important to involve the government and business sector so that Higher Education can be a mediator for innovation and development. At Guanxi University, the Rector introduced West Java and Bandung as an important market in Indonesia that could be developed for mutual cooperation between countries. The main focus that will soon be implemented based on the results of this MoU is sending of two Mandarin lecturers from GXUN who will assist in teaching in Mandarin Language Program and Cultural Studies at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, Universitas Padjadjaran. Furthermore,the program also involves in sending students from GXUN to study in Unpad, doing joint research, joint publication, and exchange of lecturers who will pursue their study. This cooperation will expand not only on the field of language and culture, but also the field of study of Southeast Asia, economics, law, biology, and fisheries / marine. In order to realize the cooperation immediately, GXUN will send three delegates to Padjadjaran University in May to discuss the follow-up of the implementation of the cooperation. However, President Guangxi University for Nationalities will also make a return visit to Universitas Padjadjaran in November 2017. The signing of MoU is then conducted between the Rector and President Xiangsihu College, Prof. Dr. Nong Kezhong, on Friday (28/04). Xiangsihu College itself is a part of GXUN but the management is governed independently. Xiangsihu College focuses more on vocational education The Rector revealed that he highly appreciates the efforts of internalization through a cooperative approach perform by Xiangsihu College. According to him, he greatly respects the attitudes and values that Xiangsihu College has built in maintaining the culture in the midst of the onslaught of globalization. The main focus of cooperation with Xiangsihu college is on the field of information technology, tourism and cultural heritage. Both sides agreed to harmonize technological advances to protect traditional cultural diversity. Prof. Tri stated the importance of government and business involvement in supporting the cooperation of both parties so that the business sector will be easier to get what they need, especially the professional human resources that has been ready to face the challenge of globalization.
In the first phase of this cooperation, Xiangsihu college will send students from China to study in Universitas Padjadjaran. In addition, the two universities will help each other facilitate the needs of teaching media for Indonesian students at Xiangsihu College University and Chinese language and culture students at the Faculty of Cultural Sciences Unpad.
Through this official visit, Rector was accompanied by Director of Governance, Public Communication / Head of International Office Unpad, Ade Kadarisman, S.Sos., MT., M.Sc and Lecturer from Indonesian Literature Program Unpad, Nani Darmayanti, Ph.D.
While visiting Nanning Guangxi, Rector was also invited by the President of the two universities to review the history museum of the development of Guangxi University for Nationalities and the natural tourist area used as vocational workplace for vocational students from various courses at Xiangsihu College University. Rector also had time to interact directly with Chinese students studying in Indonesian language study program at both universities and also had meeting with Indonesian students who are studying in Guangxi, China. With the spirit of “Maintaining harmony, yet respecting differences”, Unpad and Guangxi University for Nationalities and Xiangsihu College are both committed that the cooperation can enhance the understanding, collaboration, and relationships between both universities in particular and Indonesia-China in general. *
