UNAIR NEWS – Faculty of Dental Medicine (FKG) Universitas Airlangga continues to expand its collaboration with international partners from various countries. Until 2019, it was noted that the oldest faculty of dental medicine in Indonesia collaborated with eight universities from four countries: Japan, China, Korea and Malaysia.
Expand the cooperation, FKG UNAIR faculty ambassador drg. Irma Josefina Savitri, DDS, Sp.Perio, Ph.D, also attended the education exhibition entitled Asia-Pacific Association for International Education Conference and Exhibition (APAIE) 2019. The largest education exhibition in the Asia-Pacific took place from Tuesday to Thursday (26 -28/3/2019), located at Kuala Lumpur Convention Center, Malaysia.
Not just an exhibition, APAIE was attended by more than 1,500 delegates from hundreds of universities in the world, mainly in Asia-Pacific region. Furthermore, the event is a strategic moment for each university to meet and discuss collaboration.
“Previously, we only meet 2-4 universities in one country, in here we could meet a lot of universities. The investment that we put is big, hopefully it will go well.” said Irma.
During three days of APAIE, the lecturer of Periodontics Department, FKG held a strategic meeting with at least 21 delegates from international universities. Among them were Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, Russia, Australia and Hong Kong. Most of the strategic meetings were conducted with new partners.
In the strategic meeting, continued Irma, there were three discussion points discussed. Among other things were the possibility of collaboration in the form of student mobility, staff mobility and joint research. Moreover, Irma also introduced FKG international symposium which will be held on July 5, 2019. The international conference brought the theme of Comprehensive Approach to Disability and Oral Health.
Ambassador for Faculty of Dental Medicine drg. Irma Josefina Savitri (left) with ambassador Faculty Nursing, UNAIR Setho Hadisuyatamana (right) after meeting with delegation of Russia’s oldest medical school, Sechenov University on Wednesday, March 27 2019. (Photo: Binti Q. Masruroh)
After conducting a meeting with delegates from dozens of universities, Irma hoped the discussion would continue into a collaboration between two parties. Moreover, the collaboration that will be established can also be beneficial for all parties.
“All collaboration should have benefits for the progress and development of science.” explained Irma.
Through Irma’s participation in APAIE, she hopes that all academics in FKG will work together. Because, academic excellence has a high impact on university ranking. Thus, widespread and sustainable collaboration will support UNAIR towards World Class University (WCU).
“In addition, to increase international recognition of FKG UNAIR in world, we hope our programs can reduce the health gap that exists in the community,” he added. (*)
Author: Binti Q. Masruroh
