“I thought that Pendikar would be serious and stressful, but that’s not the case,” said Ayunda Riska, a new student of Indonesian Literature when met at the Student Character Education event (19/08/2022) at the FIB Undip Tembalang Campus. As a new student majoring in Indonesian Literature, Ayunda is grateful for being able to participate in the Student Character Education (Pendikar) event. He is grateful for being one of the many students accepted at the Indonesian Literature Study Program, Diponegoro University.

At the Pendikar event, Ayunda was introduced to the philosophical meaning of each component of the Diponegoro University symbol. Besides that, Ayunda was also happy because she was introduced to the academic and professional culture at Diponegoro University. As an excellent research university, Diponegoro University puts forward a balance between logic and taste. Diponegoro University not only has a strong scientific character but also instills integrity and ethics in its professional conduct. Ayunda As a student of Indonesian Literature at Diponegoro University feels challenged to be directly involved with academic culture and all the characteristics and student competencies developed by Diponegoro University. The characteristics and competencies of Undip students are summarized in the word “complete” which is an acronym for communicator, professional, entrepreneur, leader, thinker, and educator.

To become a fully competent Undip Indonesian Literature student, Ayunda is currently identifying her strengths to be improved and her weaknesses to be overcome. “I found a lot of new vocabulary in this Pendikar event which is sometimes difficult to understand.” It shows that I have to improve my skills, as well as a sign that college is different from my old school days.”

Met at the same time and place, Kevin Rafino said that his main motivation for pursuing Indonesian Literature at Diponegoro University is that Diponegoro University is one of the best universities in Indonesia. And Semarang is a more organized and more communal city. “Undip has a good reputation, many in my family have recommended studying at Undip,” added Kevin. In addition, Kevin, who studied Social Sciences at the high school level, felt that Indonesian Literature was a suitable major for him. “Of all social and humanities subjects, for me, the most interesting is Indonesian Literature.”
Anugrah Setio Simbolon agrees on the same thing. He chose Undip because of its reputation and also on the recommendation of family and senior friends at his high school. “But I’m not interested because my sister is also a student of Indonesian Literature at another leading PTN, I entered Indonesian literature because Indonesian literature is important to me.”
Another motivation that shows the diversity of the motivations of new students of Indonesian Literature is also shown by Dhiya Imtiyaz. Dhiya, who aspires to become a motivator, feels the need to shift his target from communication science to majoring in Indonesian Literature. For Dhiya, Indonesian literature is more fundamental to support his needs. “I have received a scholarship from one of the universities in Jakarta. But I decided to choose Indonesian Literature at Diponegoro University even at my own expense, Dhiya concluded.”(HNK)