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| The image of Prof. Ricardo de Sousa in teaching IR students of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang. (Photo: Istimewa) |
The University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) continually strives to become a top campus at the international level. Recently, through the Erasmus+ Teaching Mobility program collaboration, the White Campus UMM welcomed Prof. Ricardo de Sousa, who comes from Universidade Autónoma de Lisboa in Portugal. He has a chance to directly teach international relations (IR) students of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM).
The professor, Ricardo, said he is impressed by the university's large buildings and green environment. The students he teaches are enthusiastic and highly committed to learning. Additionally, his inventions are innovative, including the Center of Excellence (CoE) program.
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"During my time at UMM, I teach 3 classes with the course security stability in Africa. Starting from the practice of neopatrialism in Africa, the peace system in Africa, to the architectural security and military intervention in Africa. The students are quite critical and ask many interesting questions," he added.
Besides teaching, he joins a discussion forum of IR lecturers. The theme discussed was the relations between China and the United States or the Thucydides Trap of China vs. America.
"Seeing the learning process in Indonesia, in this case at UMM, I think it's not much more different than in Portugal. I can feel that students have the freedom of intellectual in engaging critically with their lecturers, which is something we also practice," explained Ricardo.
In his view, a university is an excellent place to develop capability and critical thinking skills. Therefore, he encourages students to do their best to achieve their dreams.
"Incidentally I also discussed with the International Relations Office (IRO) of UMM to develop further programs. Whether it's a student exchange or teaching mobility program like what I'm doing now," hoped Ricardo.
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On the other hand, Dr. Ir. Listiari Hendraningsih, MP., the Director of IRO UMM, emphasizes that her team has collaborated with Erasmus+ for a long time, especially in student exchange and teaching and staff mobility programs. Until now, UMM has 13 partner universities in Europe.
"So Prof. Ricardo's visit is to implement teaching mobility, namely teaching in a study program that matches his expertise for eight hours, divided into three classes. We'll continue to develop this program so that it can be more massive," said she.
The Director of IRO UMM also hopes the cooperation of UMM with another overseas university not only through Erasmus+ programs but also through direct collaboration between both universities. (imh/zak/wil)
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