New Business Opportunity, UMM Forestry Study Program Opens CoE Essential Oil

Author : Humas | Saturday, February 12, 2022 02:17 WIB

The students participating in the CoE essential oil class. (Photo: Syifa Humas)

Essential oil is a forest product that has a high selling value. However, its use still relies heavily on imports from other countries in Indonesia. Seeing this opportunity, the University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) provides a Center of Excellence (CoE) Essential Oil class program. This program is open for UMM students and later also for people who want to explore related aspects.

Head of Forestry Study Program, Galit Prakosa, S.Hut., M.Sc., said this program was initiated to have direct fieldwork skills. Especially with several industries and the world of work (Iduka) hooked up. The selection of essential oils is also aimed at opening up entrepreneurial opportunities for the participants. Moreover, there are only a handful of parties involved in it.

"Until now, the forestry study program has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with several companies. One of them is PT. Pemalang Agro Wangi (PAW). We will also invite other companies to develop it soon. Currently, we are exploring cooperation with PT. Forest Floor and Research Institute for Spices and Medicinal Plants (Balittro)," said Galit.

Furthermore, the lecturer born in Madiun said that the participants would be taught to plant essential seeds to market actual oil products to the public. This teaching from upstream to downstream is carried out to understand each stage of production better. As for the early years, that will only take participants from UMM students. However, that may open it to the general public.

"Besides UMM, several other learning institutions focus on actual oil production. However, the learning process is only limited to samples at several stages of production. It's different from the UMM CoE class, which will provide exposure to each stage," said Galit.

The duration of this program is about two semesters. Participants will be sent to several industries in the first semester to do internships. In addition, they also received material directly from the industry. Then in the second semester, they were asked to now apply the knowledge gained in the Pujon Hill area.

"Not only do they acquire essential oil processing skills, but students who are considered to have superior abilities are also likely to be recruited by the industrial world. I certainly hope that this program can help absorb White Campus graduates into workers in the essential oil field. Besides that, it can also give students an idea of the job prospects for the forestry department in the future," he concluded. (apg/syi/wil)

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