International Achievement Assistance for Santri

The Islamic Boarding School of Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) held an event called “International Achievement Assistance for Santri” on Saturday (28/10). The event featured a sharing session by three alumni speakers of the UII Student Boarding School, which was held at the Auditorium of the Faculty of Industrial Technology, K.H. Mas Mansur Building, Integrated Campus of Universitas Islam Indonesia, Kaliurang. The theme of the event was “Achieving Success, Building Recognition”. The event was attended by all students of the UII Student Boarding School. The Head of the Islamic Boarding School of UII for Boys, Dr. Suyanto, S.Ag., M.S.I., M.Pd., opened the event with a speech. He conveyed that the purpose of this activity is to encourage more students of the UII Student Boarding School to seriously seek any form of achievement, especially at the international level, because it will have an impact on the image of the UII Student Boarding School within UII and the image of Universitas Islam Indonesia on the international stage.

The first session with the theme “Becoming an Outstanding Student” was presented by Ustadz Saiful Aziz, Lc., S.H., M.H., a lecturer in the Ahwal Syakhshiyah UII Study Program and also the founder of the El-Markazy Islamic and Linguistic Club Center Student Activity Unit. During his time as a student, he has achieved 60 national and international achievements. He shared his great struggle in Arabic language debate competitions during his college years, which allowed him to obtain dozens of achievements. Not only did he focus on winning competitions, but he was also determined to empower other students to have the same opportunities.

“There (at the Arabic Language Festival competition at UI), we didn’t just participate in the debate competition, but we also tried to involve other friends from the UII Islamic Boarding School,” he said. “We practiced on our own, pushed ourselves, and went to UI Depok, and Alhamdulillah, it was actually the first time UII became the overall champion in the field of Arabic language. Because of this achievement, the Vice Rector, UII lecturers, the Rector, all finally took notice of this team. And from here, all of you became the pioneers of the establishment of El-Markazy,” he continued.

In the second session, the material titled “Tips & Trick to Pass the IISMA Program” was presented by Muhammad Ulil Albab S. N., S. Kom., Awardee IISMA 2021. IISMA (Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards) is an international mobility program to several foreign universities initiated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology since 2021. The popularity of this event continues to increase every year, making it like a moment of Computer-Based Written Test (UTBK) to enter the best state universities. There are several things that need to be prepared and known before starting to register, namely Mission Alignment, English Proficiency Score, GPA, Motivation Letter, Interview, and Know Host University.

“Now registering for IISMA has become very ambitious, which is not wrong. But, in my personal opinion, that is not the best motivation because if you don’t get it, the question is, did you get anything from the process of registering for IISMA? Actually, what is most suitable, not only for the IISMA program, but for anything, including when applying for UII scholarship, in my opinion, the most important thing is this Mission Alignment,” he explained.

The event was closed with an explanation of the material “Tips & Trick to Obtain LPDP Scholarship” by Muhammad Bahauddin, S. E., LPDP Scholarship Awardee at Gadjah Mada University. His typical humorous style made the atmosphere more relaxed and fluid. He stated that all information is already available on the official LPDP website, so it is the obligation of scholarship seekers to search for it first before asking others. For motivation letters and proposals, proofreading can be requested from LPDP awardees. In addition, every detail of the information must be carefully considered.

“All information is taken from the website, but read it in detail. Don’t miss a single article or point. Yesterday, I almost entered the wrong phone number. Before submitting, I read it again. Oh, it turns out there was one that I missed. The phone number should not be written as 08, but as +62,” for example.

Fadhil Huwaiza, as the moderator of the session, summarized the important points from all the material, namely the importance of having English proficiency and checking all the requirements on each program’s website. (FJA/F)