Prof. Dr. Is Fatimah, S.Si., M.Si. was inaugurated as Professor in Chemistry in Open Senate Hearing, Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII) at Auditorium Prof. K.H. Abdul Kahar Mudzakkir, UII Integrated Campus, Thursday (17/10). In her inauguration speech, Prof. Is Fatimah presented her title “the Development of Advanced Material to Support Environment-friendly and Sustainable Chemistry Development.” The Senate Hearing is led by UII’s Rector, Fathul Wahid, S.T., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Prof. Is Fatimah explained that the rapid development of science, technology and industry has made human life easier. Yet, beyond easiness from these developments, adverse effects from these activities, especially from chemical industries are inevitable. Water and soil contamination and air pollution are impacts that require special attention. For instance, the report on Jakarta’s air quality indicated it as the worst in the world, which is a sensitive issue for a state as part of a global community. 

“Chemical industries are often considered as the culprit for these negative impacts. However, it is undeniable that our activities are inseparable from chemicals. Basic human needs from clothing, food, housing and even communication devices are products of billions of chemical reactions. Chemistry is all around us,” Prof. Is Fatimah said. 

Prof. Is Fatimah argued that in the history of chemical industry, productivity factor was more directed towards earning synthesis output as much as possible without considering the effects like residue, chemical waste and toxic effect at the end of production. On another aspect, energy consumption for some reactions is enormous. 

“The number and variation of chemical product used in daily life has grown rapidly. To produce new materials, new compounds generated unknown or even detrimental effect on health,” she elaborated. 

Prof. Is Fatimah further asserted that in current development, Green Chemistry plays a crucial role in implementing sustainable development in various sectors, based on 12 principles: Waste Prevention, Atom Economy, Less Hazardous Chemical Synthesis, Designing Safer Chemicals, and Safer Solvents and Auxiliaries. 

In addition to that, there are also Design for Energy Efficiency, the Use of Renewable Feedstocks, Reducing Derivatives, Catalysis, Design for Degradation, Real-Time Analysis for Pollution Prevention, and Inherently Safer Chemistry for Accident Prevention. 

”Of all these twelve principles, as part of a wider scientific community in Indonesia, especially in UII and the Department of Chemistry, we made endeavors in developing Green Chemistry, through the Advanced Material for Energy and Environment (MEE) Research Laboratory,” she said. 

“The focus of our research is on the development of mineral-based and natural advanced material on catalysis preparation, adsorbent, and nanoparticles for applications in various reactions whether in the provision of essential chemicals, renewable energy and organic waste or coloring waste processing,” Prof. Is Fatimah added. 

Furthermore, Prof. Is Fatimah stated that the success of clay-based material modification had supported many genuine environmental remedy technology, for example, the combination of clay material with Ti2O and ZnO in the form of ceramic membrane material, which can be used as disinfectant materials in drinking water. Photocatalysis mechanism supported by adsorption has the ability to eliminate bacterial cells in water for disinfection. 

“Other than publications in reputable journal articles, four patents have been registered from research schemes developed by Advanced Material for Energy and Environment Research Group, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, UII,” she revealed.

Fauzi Wahyu Zamzami, a student of International Relations department who is also a santri in UII Islamic Boarding School, has been selected as one of twelve best participants in an international debate competition held by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia in Jakarta at 5 – 7 September 2019. This national debate competition on human rights brought a theme “Advancing Partnership For Sustainability.” 

The participation process began by sending an essay. Out of hundreds of registrars, only 25 participants are selected to be invited to compete in the debate held at the office of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia. In this competition, Fauzi sent an essay entitled “The Role of Youth in Taking Advantage of Local Potential to Achieve SDG’s 2030.”

In the first day, participants received lectures about human rights and debate, delivered by the Representative of Indonesia to AICHR, Representative of Directorate of ASEAN Political Security Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of The Republic of Indonesia, Representative of Directorate of Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs, Public Speaking Practitioner, dan The Winner of AICHR Youth Debate 2018.

While on the second day, debate is conducted in two sessions. In the first session, 25 debaters are screened and 12 of them are selected to advance  to the next stage. Subsequently in the second session, 3 best participants out of 12 participants will be selected as representatives to compete in AICHR Youth Debate di Thailand. Fauzi Wahyu Zamzami is top-listed as one of the 12 best finalists in this competition.

Fauzi asserted that he participated in the competition for three reasons, to enrich his experience, to improve his English skills and expand his connection. “I want to participate in this event in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because it has been my unrealized dream since I was in high school,” he uttered. 

According to Fauzi, his participation in the debate is also a means of improving his English skills. “I believe that debating will make us more critical, besides increasing our English skills little by little,” he revealed. 

As a means of adding connections.  Fauzi argues that by competing in this contest, he can discuss directly with the Director General of ASEAN, Director General of Human Rights and many more. Fauzi, who is a receiver of UII Islamic Boarding School Scholarship further explains that he competed “also to make more friends from many universities in the country and abroad, that will certainly become an investment for me in the future.” (AR/RS)

Foreign partnership is one of the most vital conduits for the internationalization of higher education institution. Such partnership is pivotal to open various research collaboration opportunities, community development, as well as mobility program for students, staff and lecturers. 

This statement is delivered by Deputy Rector of Networking and Entrepreneurship of Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII), Ir. Wiryono Raharjo, M.Arch., Ph.D., in 31st Annual Exhibition and Conference of European Association of International Education (EAIE), in Helsinki, Finland, Thursday (26/9).

In this occasion, UII participated by opening a stand in the exhibition where more than 240 participants from Europe, Asia, Africa and America represented their respective institutions, including universities, government agencies and higher education service providers. 

Wiryono added that UII’s participation in EAIE Exhibition serves as an opportunity to increase higher education partnership network with EAIE members, especially for Indonesian higher education institutions. 

“Such event becomes the implementation of ‘extending network.’ Through this exhibition, we are able to meet directly with leaders of reputable universities, so that policies can be directly formulated and articulated,” Wiryono stated. 

During the exhibition, UII has discussed intensively with a number of new potential partner candidate, such as The University of Oulu (Finland), Beijing Jiaotong University (People’s Republic of China), Tomsk State University (Russia), Université de Lille (France), and SOAS University of London (United Kingdom). These discussions revolved around the initiation of student mobility activities including student exchange and double degree program. 

In the same occasion, UII has also managed to maintain close relations with partner institutions that have already established active cooperation with UII. “We want to expand the sectors of our robust cooperation that we have developed dan realize it with our partner,” Wiryono added. These partners are The University of Western Australia (Australia), Saxion University of Applied Sciences (the Netherlands), dan Fatih Sultan Mehmet Vakif University (Turkey).

“Aside from those advantages, this exhibition will eventually become a means of measuring our capacity as a university, with whom we collaborate and how we choose our partner,” as Wiryono explained at the end of the exhibition.

A tremendous achievement is sculpted by Miracle Voice, Universitas Islam Indonesia’s Team of Student Choir (or commonly known as PSM MV UII). PSM MV UII has brought home Golden Award and Silver Award at 6th Singapore International Choral Festival held in Singapore from 1st to 4th August 2019.

Fakhriyah Fatin, the head of PSM MV UII explains “In total, there are 80 contestants participated in the competitions. But for categories we competed in, Mixed Voices and Folklore, there are 6 and 19 contestants, respectively.”

She further confirms that PSM MV UII Team won Gold Award in Folklore Category and Silver Gold in Mixed Voices or B2 Category. “Alhamdulillah we can win these two awards.”

The team’s main motivation is to increase their experience in international competitions. Furthermore, PSM MV UII also aspires to make UII proud globally.

“The preparation for this competition has started in February and we set up a committee to handle every single need we have such as funding and costumes. And then we opened an internal recruitment for team members who will be involved in the competitions. After that they will be tested by our coach and they must pass through the interview process,” she said. 

Those who passed the test must undergo training from the beginning to study all the songs and choreography. Also, they must perform their duty in the committee such as funding and sponsorship.

One of the obstacles that Fakhriyah and her team faced is that every competition has its own requirements and criteria. “Because each competition has its own distinct assessment criteria, that becomes a challenge. We must train harder and fervently,” she further asserts.

Fakhriyah elaborates that her tips and tricks in participating in any competition is to face all the things she encounters. “Just go with what you have, whether it is difficult or not, we must struggle for it to run well.”

“The hope is that in the future, we can improve our quality as well as take part in other competitions nationally or internationally, and we can bring more victories.” (DRD/ESP)

Although the relationship between Australia-Indonesia government is quite close, it still needs to be supported by relationship between citizens of the two countries or people to people contact. Strengthening people to people relationship might bring positive impacts in various aspects. One of the efforts is through bridging the cultural differences between the two nations in order to bring the two citizens closer. Read more