Professor Julie Willis is a Professor of Architecture in the Faculty of Architecture, Building, and Planning at the University of Melbourne Australia while Professor Johan Woltjer is a Professor of Urban Infrastructures at Westminster University, UK.

Professor Ben L. Feringa who was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry is an organic chemist who succeeded in making a unique compound, an alkene derivative with overcrowded alkenes, with unique physical properties too. The unique quality of this organic compound is due to the presence of two isomers at once, namely cis-trans isomerism and "right-helic/left-helic” chirality isomerism as a result of the overcrowded constituent which produces four stable isomers.

The promoter team for the honorary doctorate and the distinguished professor titles included Professor Akhmaloka, Ph.D., Professor Yana Maolana Syah, M.S., Ph.D., Professor Dr. Euis Holisotan Hakim, M.S., Professor Dr. Daryono Hadi Tjahjono, Apt., M.Sc., and Professor Brian Yuliarto, S.T., M.Eng., Ph.D.

In this occasion, ITB also awarded a number of academic and non-academic staffs in ITB as well as other groups with honorary recognition to acknowledge their works, achievements, and extraordinary dedication to ITB. The awards comprised of five categories, namely Ganesa Wira Adiutama Award given to 18 winners, Excellence in Teaching Award awarded to 12 recipients, Distinguished Research Award presented to 12 awardees, Innovation Award given to 16 receivers, and Institution Development Award awarded to 11 people.?

Implementation of Independent Campus Policy
The Rector of ITB, Prof. Reini Wirahadikusumah, stated that for 61 years of its existence ITB has earned a significant number of achievements in the development and the teaching of science, technology, arts, social sciences, and humanities as well as their application in various fields for the national development. “In a similar vein, all ITB alumni have shown their dedication and contribution to the nation through their participation in various institutions and organizations,” she said.

During the period of October 2019 - February 2020, ITB had received some awards and one of which was the Informative Public Institution (by earning 90-100 points) in the 2019 Public Information Openness Award in the category of Best State Universities in Implementing Law Number 14 of 2008 on Public Information Openness. This event was organized in Jakarta on 21 November 2019 by the Commission of Central Information of the Republic of Indonesia.

Furthermore, ITB ranked the 3rd for Best Autonomous Public University’s Social Media in the 2019 Public Relations Award held by the Ministry of Education and Culture particularly the Directorate General of Higher Education in Jakarta, 4 December 2019. ITB also won the 3rd best university in Indonesia according to Webometric in 2020.

Meanwhile, The Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Indonesia has just stipulated the Kampus Merdeka Policy or Independent Campus Policy. The policy aims at expanding the campus independence and strengthening the role that higher education plays in developing Indonesia’s HR so that they will have superior and competitive qualities in this globally disruptive era. In a nutshell, the Kampus Merdeka Policy will widen the independence of a university in the following four aspects, namely Development of Programs, Study Program Accreditation, Transformation into Autonomous Public University, and Learning Outcome of the Program.

In regard to the Kampus Merdeka Policy Prof. Reini highlighted the fact that ITB had carried out activities which are in line with this policy. For instance in the development of study programs, ITB always seriously takes into account any developments that occur in the national and international levels including their implications towards the needs of Indonesia’s Human Resources.

“ITB has conducted various researches on the disruptive effects of the advancement of science/information technology/nano/bio/cognitive. Furthermore, in the last five years ITB has introduced several emerging fields such as Big Data, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the Internet of Things (IoT) by including them in the curriculum or in the faculty members’ and students’ researches. ITB also continuously makes improvements to its curriculum and learning system at the undergraduate and graduate studies,” she added.

With respect to the accreditation of programs, the Rector of ITB reported that currently 92% of the total number of study programs at ITB have achieved national accreditation with grade A from Badan Akreditasi Nasional-Peguruan Tinggi/BAN-PT (National Accreditation Board for Higher Education). “Furthermore, concerning the transformation of ITB into an Autonomous Public University (or Perguruan Tinggi Negeri Berbadan Hukum/PTNBH), ITB has adopted the Autonomous Public University paradigm since ITB was a State-Owned Legal Entity University (Perguruan Tinggi-Badan Hukum Milik Negara/PT-BHMN) pursuant to the Government Regulation Number 155 of 2000,” she explained.

Moreover, regarding learning outcome of the program, ITB has developed a variety of schemes to increase outreach and engagement with the community at large, such as Kuliah Kerja Nyata/KKN (Students’ Community Services) conducted based on contextual themes or known as KKN-Tematik, Kerja Praktek/KP (Internship) carried out by involving industry and ITB alumni, and another Internship Program conducted in the industry or in the social communities.

“Allow me to interpret the Kampus Merdeka Policy as independence in scholarship and development of good character and moral of our scholars, independence in knowledge development for the advancement and sovereignty of our nation, independence for the welfare of our nation, and independence for bringing benefits to the world,” she concluded.