The Indonesian International Student Mobility Awards (IISMA), a flagship program designed by the Ministry of Education and Culture, Research and Higher Education, is on the air now. International Office Hasanuddin University (IO UNHAS) has been in charge of disseminating the IISMA in UNHAS by holding a camp for applicants. The first day of IISMA Camp was held on Sunday February, 11 2024 at the Grand Ballroom, UNHAS Hotel and Convention.
The camp began with an introduction by Khaeruddin, Ph.D (IO Task Force for Student Mobility). He delivered the aim of the first day camp; essay coaching. The IISMA applicants must have submitted their essay a day prior to the camp. This early submission was important to enable the respective reviewers to evaluate the essay properly and within an adequate time. This coaching focused on grammatical and word options integrated in the applicants’ essay. This coaching session was attended by about 100 participants and lasted for 3 hours. Each participant spent 10 minutes in a face to face consultation.
Furthermore, choosing the right host university abroad was considered the most crucial point. The IISMA camp committees provided a special consultation session on this. The applicants were divided into six big groups and each group was facilitated by IO staff. There was another fundamental issue discussed during the session, the applicants’ English Proficiency Test score, as it determines the choice of host universities they can aim for. In the IISMA program, applicants are allowed to choose 3 universities abroad.
The first choice is the participants’ dream university. However, the second and third options must be synergized between their wishes and UNHAS. In this case UNHAS was represented by the IO. Here, the facilitator reminded the applicants that the English Proficiency Test score is an important consideration as well as the statistics of applicants each year. For example, if an applicant has a Duolingo English Test (DET) score of 125 and enrolled at a university that requires a 125 minimum score, then choosing this university is not considered the best option because it is very likely that other applicants might have a higher score (above 125). Finally, the facilitator suggested that the applicants should be realistic in their choices. Their university choices should be based on their English language skills.
The last session on the first day was Best Practices in Essay by the IISMA Alumni. Prior to this camp, the applicants were divided into several groups facilitated by the alumni. A few of them conducted IISMA mentoring through online meetings. They met each other and discussed the IISMA related issues. In this camp, many of them met their facilitator for the first time. The alumni shared their best practices in writing essays for IISMA. They all sat together in numbers of round table discussions. The best practices of alumni might be a good reference for the applicants to present their best essay to IISMA. The first day of IISMA ended and all the facilitators and applicants went home with high hopes of winning the award this year. Good luck.
