HPT UGM – Department of Pests and Plant Diseases, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada on Wednesday, January 20, 2021 held an online Quality Assurance Refreshment Workshop through the Zoom Meeting application at 08.00-12.00 A.M. The event was attended by the HPT Department Quality Assurance Team which includes lecturers, employees, and students by inviting speakers from the Universitas Gadjah Mada Quality Assurance Office. The discussion on Quality Assurance was attended directly by the Head of the new HPT Department, Tri Joko, SP, M.Sc., Ph.D. together with the Secretary of the Department, Alan Soffan, SP, M.Sc., Ph.D. The event begins with a speech by Dr. Rudi Hari Murti, S.P., M.P. as Deputy Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, Faculty of Agriculture, Universitas Gadjah Mada, then continued with the presentation of material by resource persons from the UGM Quality Assurance Office, Prof. Dr. L. Hartanto Nugroho, M.Agr. and dr. Widya Wasityastuti, M.Sc., M.Med Ed., Ph.D. The material presentation was discussed further in the discussion and ended with a closing ceremony.
The discussion on Quality Assurance lasted for 4 hours with two material presentations, namely the material on “Best Pratice in Quality Assurance” by Prof. Hartanto and material on “Quality Assurance and Accreditation Instruments” by dr. Widya. The urgency to hold this workshop, among others, is to take the first steps as a foundation in improving the quality of the department. Because these aspects in the quality assurance of a department will later become a benchmark for whether or not there will be changes in the department later. Some points that can be learned in this discussion regarding quality assurance include:
- SPMI (Higher Education Quality Assurance System) includes setting Higher Education standards; Implementation of Dikti standards; Evaluation of the implementation of Dikti standards; and Higher Education standards.
- Higher Education Quality Assurance System includes quality culture (mindset, attitude pattern, and behavior pattern) based on Dikti standards.
- The implementation of SPM-DIKTI UGM consists of academic policies, academic standards, academic regulations (internal quality assurance) which is referred to as Ginong Pratidina.
- These three elements are used for internal quality assurance (PMI) and external quality assurance (PME). PME includes International Accreditation (AUN, AACSB, ASIIN, ABET, IChem-E, KAAB, IABEE), Survey (QS, THE, Webometrics), National Accreditation (BAN-PT, LAM).
- Educational accreditation (teaching and academic) includes curriculum development, learning environment and situations, learning strategies, learning media, assessment, students (admission selection, learning ability, willingness to learn), staff / lecturers and education personnel (staff development, class management, research and publications).
- SIOBA is a system that can be used to assess students’ achievements in the study program and does not have to be done at the end of the period.
The points above are a part of the discussion in this workshop, and its implementation depends on the institution concerned that will make improvements to Quality Assurance.
At the end of the presentation of material about “Best Pratice in Quality Assurance” Prof. Nugroho gave his appreciation to the HPT Department for being enthusiastic in the implementation of quality assurance as shown in the ongoing workshop, so that it is hoped that it can bring good things to the department going forward.
(Written by ARY, Translated by HLY)