The Freedom to Learn Program – Merdeka Campus (MBKM) is a way to improve the quality of education by freeing a student to take several credits at a university other than his home base. It was Saniyyah and Helen, two students from Andalas University who carried out the MBKM program at the Undip FIB Indonesian Literature Study Program to gain new academic and social experiences.
Saniyyah and Helen found that academic life at Diponegoro University was still thick with Javanese culture. This made both of them obtain a process of cultural interaction that enriched social values ​​and norms which were previously colored more by Minangkabau nuances.
In addition to cultural and social values, the two students received the application of literature which also discussed more about practice in the world of literature on the island of Java. If at Andalas University, discussing Hamka and other Malay writers as a center, at Diponegoro University the two of them were invited to add insight by interacting directly with literary practitioners in Semarang.
By coming into contact dialectically in terms of culture and academics through the practice of lectures at Diponegoro University, both of them claim to feel at home living in the city of Semarang. The two of them also hoped to stay longer, or at least come to Semarang City in the future. They had experienced a sense of longing even before they arrived at Andalas University.
On June 20th, 2023 Saniyyah and Helen said goodbye to the lecturers of the Indonesian Literature Study Program and the Undip FIB Leaders. It increases the sense of emotion that they have previously cultivated. Dr. Sukarjo Waluyo, M.Hum. appreciated the arrival and return of the two and hoped that this feeling of emotion would become the basis for their success in the future. Furthermore, the implementation of MBKM is also expected to be able to strengthen social and academic relations between Diponegoro University and Andalas University. (Hamdan)