Department of Architecture FT UB is always working to improve the quality of graduates and the amount of cooperation with educational institutions abroad. For that, for 3 days (13-16/Jan), seven students of the Masters Program in Built Environment Architecture (MALB) Department of Architecture FTUB class of 2019 conducted an outbound program to George Town, Penang, Malaysia.

While in Penang Island, MALB program students conducted surveys in several historical and tourist sites to learn about the management and structuring of this historic area protected by UNESCO. The survey focused on observations around the buffer zone and the core zone of the George Town historic area to several historical settlements of the seafront clan or better known there as jetties.

Observation activities aimed at obtaining data related to typology and morphology of historic areas in George Town as well as studying the integration of local behavioral and cultural patterns in it. This activity is part of the integration of the assignments of three courses that will be held in the even semester 2019/2020 MALB program whose output is directed to book publications.

In addition, the student group accompanied by the Head of the MALB Study Program, Dr. Lisa Dwi Wulandari ST., MT., Head of the Nusantara Architecture Laboratory, Dr.techn. Ir. Yusfan Adeputera Yusran and MALB lecturer Dr. Ir. Sri Utami. They also visited the School of Housing, Building, and Planning (HBP) Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Penang.

The MALB program group was welcomed by the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs at USM HBP, Dr. Nor Zarifah, Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs Prof. Dr. Ahmad Sanusi Hassan, Chair of the Department of Architecture Ar. Moh. Najib and one of the USM lecturer staff Dr. Yasser

In this meeting, discussed several important agendas as part of the initiation of cooperation between FT UB and USM HBP including; Join research opportunities, student exchanges, inbound-outbound activities, credit equalization schemes, visiting professors in the 3-in-1 scheme, and joint international planning conferences. It is hoped that in the near future, several technical items on the implementation of activities can be agreed to be poured into a Memory of Agreement (MoA) between the two parties.

In this meeting USM also offered the opportunity for MALB students to continue their doctoral education (PhD) at USM HBP. Some unique programs at USM were also explained by Dr. Nor Zarifah is like the ‘One Student One Passport’ program, which aims to encourage internal students at USM’s HBP to visit abroad and study architecture in the countries visited by students.

“In the future, this outbound activity is expected to become one of the special agendas of the MALB program as a medium of learning outside the classroom, especially in learning the treasures of the world architecture,” said Dr.Techn. Yusfan represented the group. (yus/mic)