Farid Ishartomo: Internship Experience at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

In order to strengthen relations between universities, Master’s Program in Industrial Engineering Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) sent their student, Farid Ishartomo, to do an academic visit to the School of Mechanical Engineering Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) Johor Bahru. Farid stayed for two weeks, from 21 September 2019 until 5 October 2019 as part of an internship program and fully funded by Faculty of Engineering UNS. This program is also a manifestation of international collaboration in industrial engineering, where two supervisors guide the student master’s thesis from both universities, Dr. Bambang Suhardi from Industrial Engineering UNS and Dr. Jafri Mohd Rohani from Industrial Engineering UTM.

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) is a Malaysian public research-intensive university in engineering, science, and technology located in Skudai, Johor. UTM is a graduate-focused university with 56% of its student population consisting of postgraduate students, the highest in Malaysia. UTM is also a university that ranked 228 (2019 QS World University Rankings) in the world.

During his visit, Farid Ishartomo was warmly welcomed by Dr. Jafri. Every day there were discussion sessions related to his master’s thesis research. Dr. Jafri also included other master’s students from UTM under his supervision, Atikah Azam, to help each other in completing the master’s thesis research being carried out. Farid also had the opportunity to visit the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Malaysia Johor and got an explanation of what activities they carried out and several laboratory equipment used in the field of ergonomics and human factors. Farid also received training in handling statistical data analysis software for structural equation modeling from Prof. Dr. Amirmudin Udin (Department of Technical and Engineering Education, Faculty of Education UTM). Farid also met with ergonomics and human factors experts from academia and industry practitioner, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Muhammad Zaly Shah (Director of Centre for Innovative Planning and Development, Faculty of Built Environment and Planning UTM) and Mrs. Roseni Abdul Aziz (Deputy Manager of Human Resources Strategy Management and Quality-Health-Safety-Environment TPM Technopark Sdn Bhd) who provided advice related to the master’s thesis research project being carried out.

Discussion session with Dr. Jafri and Ms. Atikah Azam

Through this program, the head of the Master’s Program in Industrial Engineering UNS, Dr. Eko Pujiyanto hopes that the student gains valuable experience in international research collaboration. This is also an added value for the Master’s Program in Industrial Engineering UNS that always encourages students to be able to excel internationally through academic activities such as international conferences, student exchanges, research collaborations, and many others. Sometimes, getting out of your comfort zone of daily activities is needed to move forward and develop to achieve success. Students who are familiar with the academic atmosphere of their campus need to see outside of their own world and get to know other campuses abroad to encourage themselves to become better in the future.