Gijs van Roestel, Casper de Vilder, Ruud de Loew, Roelof Lammes, Ankie Meijs and Anne van Dam, six students from Radboud University Nijmegen the Netherlands participated an Exchange Program at the Faculty of Geography from 11 March 2017 to 6 April 2017. During four weeks, the students conducted fieldwork activity for their undergraduate thesis in different subjects, such as urban planning, informal settlement, tourism, Information and Communication Technology, and disaster risk management. These bachelor students from Geografie, Planologie en Milieu Study Program were supervised by lecturers from the Faculty of Geography (according to the students’ research themes), Prof. Dr. Rijanta, M.Sc., Prof. Dr. M. Baiquni, M.A., Dr. Sukamdi, M.A., Dr. Rini Rachmawati, S.Si., M.T., Dr. Djaka Marwasta, M.Si., and Dr. Estuning Tyas Wulan Mei. The student exchange programs were carried out since last four years and will be continued as an attempt to continue the long nurtured collaboration between two Radboud University and Universitas Gadjah Mada.

Faculty of Geography Universitas Gadjah Mada attempts to develop strategic partnerships with various universities abroad in support of Universitas Gadjah Mada to World Class Research. On Monday 13 March 2017, Guest Lecture held at the Geography Faculty of UGM with speaker Dr. Simone Sadholz. Guest Lecture was attended by more than 60 participants consisting of lecturers, undergraduate (S1), master program (S2) and doctoral program (S3) students of Geography Faculty of UGM. Dr. Simone Sandholz general lecture’s theme is: Changing Urban Landscapes of the Global South: Challenges and Opportunities based on Studies from Nepal, Indonesia and Brazil. Dr. Simone Sandholz is a researcher-lecturer at the United Nation University Institute for Environment and Human Security. Her research interests on climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, integrated urban regeneration and sustainable urban development. She is actively doing research collaborations with the Faculty of Geography since she was working as assistant professor at the University of Innsbruck and at TH Köln University of Applied Sciences under the Center for Natural Resources and Development.

Nugroho Christanto, S.Si., M.Sc., a lecturer from the Department of Environment Geography, joined the Young Researcher’s School (Prosper.Net) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam from 5 to 16 March 2017 on the theme “Water Security for Sustainable Development in a Changing Climate”.

Indonesia memiliki sumberdaya laut yang sangat melimpah, namun pengelolaannya masih belum  optimal bahkan negara mengalami kerugian hingga trilyunan rupiah akibat adanya aktivitas perikanan ilegal. Praktek penangkapan ikan tanpa memperhatikan kelestarian, penurunan kualitas habitat, pengolahan bahan makan tidak berstandar dan menghambat pengembangan usaha, merupakan beberapa permasalahan yang juga ditemukan dalam pengelolaan perikanan Indonesia. Salah satu langkah yang diambil oleh Kementerian Kelautan dan Perikanan adalah dengan membuat perundangan mengenai praktek perikanan Illegal, Unreported, Unregulated (IUU). Hal tersebut seiring dengan tujuan menuju Indonesia menjadi poros maritim dan pengelolaan sumberdaya laut dengan mengacu pada pilar Kedaulatan, Kelestarian, dan Kesejahteraan. Berdasarkan Isu tersebut Monash University Australia bekerjasama dengan beberapa universitas di Indonesia, yaitu Universitas Gadjah Mada, Universitas Hasanudin Makasar, dan Universitas Nusa Cendana Kupang, untuk membahas pengelolaan perikanan dan kelautan dari sudut pandang pendidikan atau akademis.

Professor Makoto Takahashi, a professor in Geography / Environmental Policy, from the Department of Social and Human Environment, Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Nagoya University visited the Faculty of Geography on 21 March 2017 and hosted by the Vice Dean of Research, Community Service and Alumni Cooperation (Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron) and the Head of Center for Disaster Study (Dr. Djati Mardiatno). UGM and Nagoya University has a long history of collaboration since the MoU between two universities was signed on June 1998. In order to strengthen the cooperation, a collaborative research is now being conducted between Nagoya University and Universitas Gadjah Mada entitled International Comparative Study on Mega-earthquake Disasters. Along with his visit, Professor Takahashi was also supervising a PhD candidate from Nagoya University, Mr. Dodi WIdiyanto, M.Reg.Dev., one of the Faculty of Geography’s lecturers who is pursuing his doctoral program in Nagoya University since September 2016 under the supervision of Professor Takahashi with the topic on geography of food.

The Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), attended the annual event “The Twin College Envoys Program (TWINCLE) ASEAN Consortium Symposium Program Meeting” held in Chiba University, Japan, on 16 to 20 March 2017. The project aims to gather all members of the consortium, which amount to at least 15 universities in six participating countries in order to develop activities which pairs up graduate students skilled in educational research with those striving for cutting edge practical scientific research, and trains highly skilled individuals. The TWINCLE is a program for teachers who have global ability and vision and researchers who have a global mind under a consortium chaired by the Chiba University. The event was held for 4 days, which started with the opening of the meeting three university groups, a presentation of program in the future, presentations of TWINCLE students-participants and ended with the research awards for the outstanding students.

Faculty of Geography students have made achievements in Innovation Debate Competition, organised by Institut Teknologi Kalimantan, Balikpapan, East Kalimantan (Fig 1). One teams from Faculty of Geography, UGM became the winner and earned Best Speaker award. Lukman Hakim from Department of Science Information Geographic and Aditya Pradana from Department of Environmental Geography went through to the finals in the competition that ran from 5-7 March 2017 after getting through elimination phase. “The competition was joined by 16 teams from various universities in Indonesia that had passed elimination in the form of essay selection which raised the theme Technology on Alert in Indonesia,” said Aditya who became Best Speaker of debate competition.

Memperhatikan arti penting pendidikan dalam upaya pembangunan, Fakultas Geografi, Universitas Gadjah Mada, merupakan salah satu pioneer yang berkontribusi secara aktif selama setidaknya lima dekade terakhir. Secara khusus, kajian Fakultas Geografi adalah mengembangkan aplikasi ilmu Geografi yang secara eksplisit tertuang pula dalam Nawa Cita, yaitu pada: Tujuan 3. “Membangun Indonesia dari pinggiran dengan memperkuat daerah-daerah dan desa dalam kerangka negara kesatuan…”.Pendekatan keruangan merupakan salah satu landasan pengembangan ranah keilmuan Geografi yang ternyata menjadi salah satu nuansa dalam pembangunan saat ini.

The partnership between Chiba University and Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) has long been strengthened to the series of collaboration. On 22 February 2017, Chiba University has brought their delegation visiting Universitas Gadjah Mada to organize their Twincle Program. UGM, represented by Director of Partnership and Head of International Office, Dr. Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron, S.Si., M.T., M.Sc. and some faculties’s members, attended the event annually of the program between UGM and Chiba University particularly opening ceremony of Twincle program.

Faculty of Geography Universitas Gadjah Mada strives to develop strategic partnerships with various universities abroad in support of Universitas Gadjah Mada to World Class Research. On Monday 13 March 2017, Guest Lecture held at the Geography Faculty of UGM with speaker Prof. Dr. Farhat Yusuf. Guest Lecture was attended by more than 100 participants consisting of lecturers, staff, Undergraduate (S1), Master program (S2) and Doctoral program (S3) students of Geography Faculty of UGM. Prof. Dr. Farhat Yusuf theme is: Demography of ethnic minorities in China. Professor Farhat Yusuf is associated with the Menzies Centre for Health Policy and the China Study Centre at the University of Sydney.  He is also an Emeritus Professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics at Macquarie University.  He first visited China in 1975 where he met the famous Chinese social scientist (late) Professor Fei Hsiao-Tung who got him interested in the study of ethnic minorities. Since then Professor Yusuf has visited China on numerous occasions to attend conferences and other professional meetings.  He has travelled extensively within China particularly during his numerous assignments as a UNFPA/UNDP consultant for the evaluation of  various population programs.  In 2006 he spent part of his sabbatical leave as a Visiting Professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.