Menu
Bern University of Applied Sciences (BFH-HAFL) Switzerland is one of the best vocational universities in Switzerland. On Monday (6/11) representatives from BFH-HAFL Switzerland visited Politeknik Negeri Jember (Polije). BFH-HAFL’s visit to Polije was an initiation from Skill for Competitiveness (S4C), where S4C connected BFH-HAFL with Polije so that communication was established.
The visit by BFH-HAFL from 6 to 10 November aims to see the potential possessed by Polije so that the upcoming cooperation between Polije and BFH-HAFL will be formed. Representatives from BFH-HAFL visited the Teaching Factory (TEFA) at Polije and laboratories in the Polije Agricultural Technology Department. In addition, they participated in seeing lectures conducted by Polije students. Later, the results of the BFH-HAFL visit to Polije will be strengthened by research cooperation from both Polije students and lecturers with BFH-HAFL.
For Sven Nägeli, as a research assistant from BFH-HAFL, admitted that it was very interesting to be in Polije because Polije students do a lot of practice which is a learning process. This is a good learning process for students. “I am very amazed by Tefa, as well as the laboratories owned by Polije because their students learn directly by practice,” said Sven Nägeli.
Sven Nägeli continued, with many similarities between Polije and BFH-HAFL, such as research on tempeh, tofu, zero wasted, coffee production, frozen food, frozen vegetables, dairy products, and so on, it is a good step after one week of digging information at Polije, so that it can be discussed about research that will be carried out later.
During this visit, S4C, BFH-HAFL, and Polije also held discussions with industries that have collaborated with Polije to find out industry needs related to research, environmental issues, apprenticeships, soft skills, and competencies that students should have. The topics in the discussion will also become one of the potential cooperation scopes.
According to the Vice Director for Planning, Cooperation, and Information Systems of Polije, Agung Wahyono, S.P., M.SI., Ph.D., the visit from BFH-HAFL is a form of sustainable program initiated by S4C which is a program from the Swiss government. This cooperation starts from 2018 to 2022 which is the first phase and will continue to be extended to the next phases.
“The presence of BFH-HAFL to Polije is a form of international cooperation carried out by Polije. One of the initiated programs is student exchange, staff training, and research collaboration,” explained Agung Wahyono, S.P., M.SI., Ph.D.
Agung Wahyono, S.P., M.SI., Ph.D., also explained that the visit from BFH-HAFL to Polije was to see the potential possessed by Polije. So that later the BFH-HAFL can determine what things will be done in collaboration with Polije.
“It is clear that Polije has a vision of becoming an outstanding polytechnic in 2035, of course this program will be very helpful in Polije’s internationalization program. Even though Polije has a vision of becoming an outstanding polytechnic in Asia in 2035, Polije does not rule out the possibility of cooperating with partners outside Asia such as Switzerland, Germany and surrounding European countries which are countries with superior vocational education, so we are not wrong to explore cooperation with these countries,” concluded Agung Wahyono, S.P., M.SI., Ph.D. (hnf/iq/ang/vig)