Starting her presentation, Dr. Karlina explained that returning to khitah means returning to the identity, heart, goals, and functions of higher education. Returning to khitah has a logical consequence from the search for knowledge, namely knowledge for the common good that is good for oneself and for society which is then achieved in the tridharma of higher education.

"The tridharma of higher education is an integral part of teaching education and then research, which results are conveyed to the public as part of the implementation and intelligence of life together," she said.

Dr. Karlina emphasized, if higher education is truly loyal to its preacher, then the academic community will carry out a noble mission, namely to become a true citizen where the point is to educate people to be involved in educating the nation and society. "The main task of education is to produce true citizens. This was conveyed by Bung Hatta, Ki Hajar Dewantoro, and is in the texts of overseas universities, "added the ITB astronomy alumnus.

Dr. Karlina Supelli, who is a lecturer at the Driyarkara School of Philosophy, defines higher education as an institution that fosters, nurtures and spreads academic excellence. She likens it, if we see a university as a building, the identity of a university is science as a common benefit, then the main supporting pillar is seeking scientific truth, and the foundation here is a necessary foundation consisting of character, integrity, and tradition. "We mean that universities do not only train facts, theories, methods, explanations, and predictions, but universities also practice thinking," she said.

On the other hand, the challenge for the academic community today is fragmentation. In addition, in society there is also polarization, misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and anti-scientific attitudes such as rejection of vaccines. One of the reasons for this is the large amount of information circulating that is heard by the public but not from experts but from the opinions of many people. "It is very often the academic community or experts are rejected by their opinion, because what they hear is the opinion of many people and this is a logical fallacy because many are not necessarily true," said Dr. Karlina.

In closing, Dr. Karlina advised the younger generation to seek knowledge. "We cannot jump and hope to get to wisdom, wisdom is a long way of knowledge. Therefore, for young people, don't forget to seek knowledge, so the journey will lead to wisdom and bring goodness, "she concluded, closing the presentation.

Reporter: Deo Fernando (Entrepreneurship, 2019)

Translator: Elisabeth Sirumapea (Management, 2020)