ALUMNAS Forum: The Importance of Patriotism on Education in Indonesia

By Adi Permana

Editor Adi Permana


BANDUNG, itb.ac.id - The Alumni of Universities from the United States University (ALUMNAS) held a development forum, namely Alumnus Development Forum (ADF), on Thursday, 27 May 2021. This forum invited six panelists, including Prof. Reini Wirahadikusumah, to discuss education issues in Indonesia.


The ADF performs to support education in Indonesia and share sessions from the experienced panelists to provide new insights that can be useful for education in Indonesia.

At the forum, Prof. Reini said that it is necessary to instill a sense of love for the homeland or patriotism. Those senses are diversity, tolerance, cooperation, work ethic, and others.

"ITB as an engineering educational institution is trying to keep those values by collaborating with other universities to improve performance and collaboration," said Prof Reini, a graduate of Purdue University, USA.

Besides Prof. Reini, several panelists share their opinions, namely Noni Purnomo, MBA., Iwan Syahril, Ph.D., Shinta Dhanuwardoyono, MBA., Daniel Suryadharma, Ph.D., Prof. Dr. Wiendu Nuryanti, Prof. Dr. Abdul Mu'ti. The other four panelists shared their opinions related to education in Indonesia.

Iwan Syahril, Ph.D., said that Indonesia should prepare teacher training to face the industrial revolution 4.0 and Indonesia Emas 2045. "All education stakeholders (including students) become agents of change and provide full influence and support," he said.

"Education is a social engineering used by a country/nation to achieve the interests or goals of that country," said Prof. Abdul Mu'ti when delivering his opinion. According to him, there must be a standard made by BNSP that Indonesian education should achieve.

"Education in Indonesia faces many challenges, namely lack of competence by Indonesian educators and students," said Daniel as the third panelist. According to the survey, there is at least a four-year difference in the ability of 15-year-old students in developed countries compared to Indonesia. For this reason, Daniel said Indonesia needs more innovators.

Reporter: Tarisa Putri (Chemical Engineering 2019)
Translator: Billy Akbar Prabowo (Metallurgical Engineering 2020)