UNAIR NEWS – Master of Pharmacy student interested in Drug Development, Norhayati, has been named Pharmaceutical Sciences Initiative Coordinator 2021-2022 in the International Pharmaceutical Students’ Federation (IPSF) organization on Thursday, September 30, 2021.
IPSF is the largest international pharmacy student advocacy organization in the world. With more than 500,000 active members spread across more than 100 countries, this non-governmental, non-political and non-religious organization is one of the important health organizations, especially in the pharmaceutical sector.
Norhayati explained that her struggle to join IPSF was not easy. However, series of achievements she made supported her to become a global IPSF coordinator.
Her achievements include 1st place in the Indonesian pharmaceutical student product competition, 2nd place in national scientific essays, winner of the Best Pharmacy Student and Student Diplomat nominations by the national Indonesian Pharmacy Student Senate Association (ISMAFARSI), and an outstanding student in Kalimantan by ISMAFARSI Kalimantan.
Furthermore, Norhayati is also active in ISMAFARSI Kalimantan 2018-2020 as an external expert staff, a regional and national conference delegate, and a student exchange delegate to Egypt held offline by IPSF in 2020.
Before serving as coordinator, Norhayati had joined IPSF as Young Researchers’ Forum Manager in the previous year. In her tenure, she has made contributions in increasing the research knowledge of pharmacy students by creating educational campaigns, YRF research boxes ( QnA sessions with researchers from around the world), educational competitions, and collaborating with IPSF Public Health in activities with WHO.
In July 2021, on 66 th IPSF World Congress, Norhayati held a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and scientific competitions. Norhayati acted as a speaker and moderator with mentors from South Korea, Australia, and Nepal in the event.
As someone actively involved in pharmaceutical science, Norhayati stated that the current development of the pharmaceutical world is quite good. However, some things need to be improved, such as from the education sector.
“Pharmaceutical education, which should be in laboratories or in health facilities, is required to be online learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Of course, this is very risky in the level of student understanding. Each university in various countries must be able to package pharmacy learning as well as possible so that it can be understood well by students, “said Norhayati.
Norhayati also expressed her views about the pharmaceutical world in Indonesia, which is quite good with hybrid learning. However, many things need to be improved so that the Indonesian pharmaceutical world will be even better in the future.
According to Norhayati, to develop the pharmaceutical world in Indonesia, the Pharmaceutical Law (UU) is needed in Indonesia. The government should help pharmaceuticals in Indonesia issue Pharmaceutical Laws to protect and enhance the dignity of pharmaceuticals in various sectors (learning to work).
“In addition, the role of universities is also very important. I hope that universities in Indonesia can fully support students who want to participate in international and national activities. In order to produce students who excel both non-academic and academic, “concluded Norhayati.
Author: Rayya Afifah Ikhsani
Editor: Khefti Al Mawalia
