In the midst of all festivities, UPH Festival 25 also introduces new students to their chosen faculties.

Among all the festivities of UPH Festival 25, UPH organized a Faculty Fellowship, where new students can learn more about the majors that they have chosen. This Faculty Fellowship was held on August 16, 2018, in UPH Lippo Village.

Faculty Fellowship is organized for the new students to get to know their lecturers and staff. In addition, they are also briefed on the teaching and learning system in their faculties and the uniqueness of each major within the faculty. Hendra Tjahyadi, S.T., M.T., Ph.D., Associate Dean of School of Information Science and Technology (SISTECH) UPH, took this opportunity to remind students to always learn through active learning.

“There are a lot of materials that cannot be discussed in class. Because of this, students need to be proactive and ask, should they have any inquiries. Learning is a process of two parties, not one. Every time a student asks, the student will learn something new, and so does the lecturer. In higher education, teaching and learning should be done through andragogy, not pedagogy – students should have the initiative in learning. The students and lecturer should interact back and forth,” Hendra explained.

He also encouraged his students to be skillful in active reading and active listening. He believes that reading is not an easy task; reading means really understanding what one reads. Active reading means that when one reads, he always asks questions because, in every reading, there will be new insights that need to be dug deeper. Active listening is also important – there should be questions and inquiries in every class.

In the Faculty Fellowship, Hendra also showed students one of the main components of studying in UPH and SISTECH, namely its internship programs and the Student Feedback Questionnaire (SFQ). New students need to understand the importance of SFQ because, in Hendra’s opinion, SFQ results so far still show subjectivity.

“Sometimes, if a lecturer is nice to students, the students will give good ratings, and if a lecturer is not as nice, the students will rate him as low. We need to listen to the aspirations of students because it’s for our own good. I hope that you can fill out the SFQ as objectively as possible because it is to our own good and to give constructive feedback to the lecturer in question,” Hendra explained.

UPH hopes that this meeting between the Dean and new students can help familiarize students with the faculty and help them have a smooth transition in UPH SISTECH.