Prof. Dr. Ir. Jaka Sembiring, M. Eng., ITB Vice Rector for Academic and Student Affairs, received the award on behalf of the ITB Rector. According to him, the award is the result of ITB's strategic plan for the last five years as part of its MBKM program. "Besides us, UGM and IPB are awarded. We are glad our program is appreciated by the government," he said in an interview on Friday (31/5/2023).

Prof. Jaka stated that implementing MBKM may help achieve the targets of ITB’s strategic plan. "Many MBKM activities have been carried out by ITB, such as product downstreaming, cooperation with industries, and students’ involvement in industrial activities. All these are in accordance with the goals in our strategic plan.”

In addition, ITB has prepared 15-20 proposals to support the Matching Fund program with a total budget of approximately Rp 15-20 billion. "There are still a few issues found in the program but we believe we can face it with planned coordination. Conceptually, this implemented program is good so far.”

The Matching Fund program is one of the programs of MBKM that aims to increase collaboration between universities and industries. Through this program, research that has been developed by universities can be quickly utilized by industries.

This program also provides an overview to universities of the different kinds of research currently needed by the industrial sector. Researchers can submit their studies and share their results to industries efficiently and effectively via kedaireka.id.

Reporter: Adi Permana
Translator: Ruth Nathania (Environmental Engineering, 2019)