Muh Aris Marfai is a professor, faculty member and researcher of the Faculty of Geography, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) Indonesia, where he has been since 1999. Born in Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia, he received his doctoral degree in Geography from Justus-Liebig-Universitaet, Giessen, Germany in 2008 after completing an MSc in Earth System Analysis at International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) The Netherlands in 2003. He completed his bachelor’s degree program in Physical Geography in 1998 from the Faculty of Geography UGM. In September 2013, at the age of 37, he assumed his professorship at Universitas Gadjah Mada.
2015
Hendy Fatchurrohman and Charina, students of MPPDAS batch 2014 did joint student program in ITT, TH Koeln in September 2015 – February 2016. The program is funded by Center Natural Resources and Development (CNRD), as a part of CNDR’s programs, involving 13 universities around the globe.
“As an MPPDAS student, I had a chance to be involved in several CNRD’s events such as Joint student Project, Eco-DRR Training, and Semester exchange. One of the most remarkable moment as MPPDAS student is when I awarded semester exchange scholarship in ITT, TH Koeln”
CNRD students learned hydrology in Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) Programme, concerning on water resource issues such as water supply, public health and sanitation, and water scarcity and drought. The program also describe developed country’s perspective in encountering disaster events, especially flood. Students were devided into several working group based on their expertise. Hendy’s group learned Manage Aquifer Recharge for Groundwater Resources to understand comprehensively groundwater resource problems and management in a certain area. The program enhance not only student’s knowledge, but also student’s social ability for dealing with other people with different culture and background.
The program condusted site visit to water treatment plan as a part of Public Health and Sanitation module. Field trip and site visit provide good practice managements to be shown to students, so they may enrich their knowledge by directly observing the management practice (Fig. 1).
Figure 1. Waste water treatment plan in the country side of The City of Cologne
CNRD Scholarship gave many knowledge, experiences and networks. Sophisticated, well organized and integrated academic systems in ITT, TH Koln is very good to be applied in Universitas Gadjah Mada. Many foreign students and experienced lecturers lead into a very nice class atmosphere and interactive discussion. This program open big opportunities for student who want to develop their knowledge and skills. It should be sustainable by keeping on expand their network, with better coordination among universities that involved in CNRD.
Sebagai salah satu sarana dan sebagai wadah untuk sosialisasi program Beasiswa Unggulan secara lebih luas lagi, MPPDAS Fakultas Geografi UGM melaksanakan kegiatan “Character Building Beasiswa Unggulan Kemdikbud & Seminar Nasional ke-1 Pengelolaan Pesisir dan Daerah Aliran Sungai”. Program kegiatan ini dimaksudkan untuk membentuk karakter generasi muda Indonesia yang handal, unggul, mempunyai jiwa kepemimpinan serta
meningkatkan kualitas publikasi penerima beasiswa. Kegiatan ini juga disertai dengan pemberian sosialisasi dan pemahaman terhadap program Beasiswa Unggulan secara luas.