Yogyakarta, 4 December 2021 – SEAMEO BIOTROP and six other SEAMEO Centres in Indonesia presented the Centre’s highlighted programes, activities, linkages, and networks in the Centres, in the 1st International Office Conference (IOC) held in Hotel Tentrem, Yogyakarta on 3 - 5 December 2021. The event was organized in collaboration between Universitas Padjadjaran (UNPAD), Universitas Islam Indonesia (UII), the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Republic of Indonesia, and Forum KUI Indonesia, on hybrid mechanism.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has impacted human’s life today. It has been more than a year since the pandemic hit all aspects of life, including the higher education sector. The pandemic has forced all of the management in higher education institutions to redesign the operational activities such as lecturing, administrative activities, and all the business processes switched to online. This impact has also challenged the international office management responsible for initiating and implementing international cooperation. Despite the limitations caused by the pandemic, to keep strengthening the cooperation between national higher education institutions in Indonesia and partner universities in overseas.

The conference comprised of workshop, parallel, seminar, and networking sessions. Other than SEAMEO Centres, Dr Gatot Priohariwirjanto as the Coordinator of SEAMEO Centres Indonesia also presented insight on the Potential Synergy with SEAMEO. The conference featured presenters from University of Islam Indonesia, University of Gadjah Mada, University of Padjadjaran, University of Malaya, Malaysia, National University of Singapore, Duy Tan University, Vietnam, and National University of Tsing Hua to share their best practices in conducting learning activities during the Pandemic COVID-19. (rf)