Politeknik Negeri Semarang (Polines) delegation consisting of four students, Ayu Indrasari Saputri, Nurul Devi Ariyani, Salsabila Elingga H, and Tisa Maulika, participated in the 2019 International Student Leadership Camp program held by NKUST (National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology) First Campus, Taiwan, on July 15-21, 2019.
The annual activity, is a realization of collaboration between Polines and NKUST. It aims to develop leadership competencies that help maximize the students potential on their future careers, social and individual lives. In addition, the activity is also expected to increase the competence of cultural understanding among praticipants through community service and direct interaction between participants who comes from several countries.
Not all (52) camp participants succeeded through a series of activities that lasted for seven days continuously from 07.00 to 23.00 local time, but four participants from Indonesia were quite tough and actively completed every activity which included workshops on meetings, debating, and leadership; simulated meeting; debate on social issues; community service and learning activities; and local cultural field trips. Even two awards were successfully obtained by Nurul Devi Ariyani, namely "Leader of the Year" and "Outstanding Delegate in Simulated Meeting."
"The participants from Polines were really deserved to be proud of, their enthusiasm for learning is very high, this is indicated by active participation in every discussion and activity, the level of adaptation ability is also extraordinary, they quickly blend in with participants from other countries, even Tisa Maulika is one of the participants most popular, their English skills are good and get praise from Professor Chi-Fen Emily Chen, Ph.D., Camp organizer", said Dra. Nur Rini, M.Pd., the mentor of the delegation.
This activity is very useful in improving student soft-skills, Tisa stated, "This camp is very enjoyable, we can gain a lot of experience, not only developing skills in academics but also soft-skills, as well as getting many friends from abroad as the beginning of building a broad network". Also delivered by Salsa," As my first trip abroad, I learned many lessons from communicating, building relationships, cultural understanding and formal lessons such as meetings and debates simulations”. It means that Polines participation needs to be continued for years to come. Meanwhile Nurul Devi hopes, "Polines can get a bigger quota so that more students will have the opportunity to take part in this camp activity." In his remarks Professor Chen responded positively that the coming year Polines would get a larger quota. For 2019, the camp participants came from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan and Thailand.
Additional forms of cooperation between Polines and NKUST are currently under discussion including conducting intensive lectures for two or three months, transfer credits and the possibility of double degrees.