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| Collaboration between the Indonesian Language Study Program, BIPA Learning in Thailand (Photo: Special) |
The development of Indonesian language learning for Foreign Speakers (BIPA) in southern Thailand has caught the attention of the Indonesian Language Education Program (PBI), Faculty of Education, University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM). This prompted the UMM PBI teaching team to fly to Thailand and observe firsthand the practice of PBI learning. In Thailand, this team visited the Consulate General of the Republic of Indonesia (KJRI) in Songkhla, Thailand, and one of the leading schools in southern Thailand, Hatyai Wittayalai Somboonkulkanya School, on May 30-31.
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This visit also served as a way for UMM to establish cooperation with various parties abroad in implementing the Indonesian Language Program for Foreign Speakers (BIPA). They were directly received by the Indonesian Consul, Suargana Pringganu, along with two Social and Cultural Function staff, Marsya Fadhia Akmal and Gregorius Bangkit, who have a background in BIPA. The UMM team also presented the achievements of UMM's BIPA and several outstanding international programs.
Pringganu expressed his pleasure in hearing the UMM team's presentation. He also stated that not all BIPA programs conducted in southern Thailand are recorded at the KJRI. He mentioned that the interest of Thai people in learning Indonesian and traveling to Indonesia is extraordinary. Most Thai graduates study in Indonesia and Egypt. Although BIPA learning in southern Thailand is rapidly developing, it is currently experiencing a decline due to the discontinuation of the BIPA teacher exchange program abroad. "The interest is high, but it is hindered by costs. Therefore, when the Indonesian government no longer sends BIPA teachers abroad, many BIPA points no longer function," he explained.
Because of this, he expressed his delight that the PBI FKIP UMM has a Center of Excellence (CoE) in Language Diplomacy program and will send BIPA internship students to southern Thailand. This will open up new BIPA points. He also hopes that UMM lecturers can provide BIPA teaching training to Indonesians in Thailand. Currently, many BIPA instructors in southern Thailand do not come from the field of Indonesian language and lack sufficient BIPA knowledge.
"We welcome UMM's ideas and plans to establish cooperation with southern Thailand. We will promote UMM's programs and assist in realizing them," he said.
On the other hand, UMM PBI Lecturer Fida Pangesti M.A. explained that this cooperation is expected to serve as a medium for developing the competencies of students involved in the Language Diplomacy CoE. This CoE is designed to meet the increasing need for BIPA instructors. Through course designs that are not only theoretical but also practical, it is hoped that professional BIPA instructors will be produced, accelerating the realization of the vision of improving Indonesian language functions as an international language.
Furthermore, she also explained various international programs at UMM that can be accessed by Thai students. One of them is the UMM Summit scholarship. This campus scholarship has two schemes: a fully funded scholarship and a partial scholarship.
UMM has long been running BIPA programs. So far, one of the largest contributors of BIPA students to UMM is Thailand, especially southern Thailand. Dr. Arif Budi Wurianto, M.Si., emphasized that this is a strong foundation for establishing further cooperation with various agencies in southern Thailand. Therefore, the UMM team's visit this time also aimed to visit alumni who are currently working as BIPA teachers at Hatyai Wittayalai Somboonkulkanya School.
"One of our alumni is a BIPA teacher at Hatyai Wittayalai Somboonkulkanya School. And we proactively visited and explored cooperation. This is an important step in realizing the vision of internationalizing the Indonesian language," he said.
The UMM team's visit was warmly welcomed by the Director of Hatyai Wittayalai Somboonkulkanya School, Seri Ingkhong, who appeared enthusiastic. She explained that their school offers foreign language programs not only for high school students but also junior high school students. So far, the Indonesian language program has become one of the favorite foreign languages for students. They have even won various national Indonesian language competitions.
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Therefore, UMM's visit and explanation of the programs offered by UMM could be a breath of fresh air for Hatyai Wittayalai Somboonkulkanya School. She is interested in visiting UMM to further discuss collaboration points that can be collaborated. "This collaboration is very important for us in advancing education, especially Indonesian language teaching at our school," she concluded. (*/wil/fajr)
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