UNAIR NEWS – The InACE (International Conference on Academia-Community Engagement) 2023 in Kuala Lumpur was a collaborative effort of University of Malaya Community Engagement Center (UMCares) and World University Association for Community Development (WUACD) of Universitas Airlangga. The conference was concluded with a forum discussion under the theme “Navigating Globalization: Insights from Policy and Innovation.” The forum was moderated by Assoc Prof Dr Amer Siddiq Amer Nordin, Chairman of InACE 2023, and the Director of the UMCares, and presented three panellists: Dr. Igak Satrya Wibawa, the Attaché for Education and Culture at the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Singapore and a senior lecturer at the Department of Communication, Faculty of Social Science and Politic, Universitas Airlangga; Prof Dato’ Dr Aileen Tan Shau Hwai, the Executive Director of the Asia-Pacific University-Community Engagement Network (APUCEN); and Dr Lina Puryanti, the Vice Dean for Research, Innovation, and Community Development of the Faculty of Humanities at Universitas Airlangga and the Director of Airlangga Institute of Indian Ocean Crossroads (AIIOC).
The discussion opened with a friendly introduction to the three panelists from Dr Amer, “We are all friends.” One fundamental question raised in this forum was how to put the issue of globalization in the context of policy and innovation in implementing ComDev (Community Development) activities. All three panellists believed that globalization is inevitable for higher education worldwide. Higher education can even be considered a crucial agent of globalization’s overall process and events, given one of its essential characteristics for knowledge production and its attachment to technological developments in the world. This condition leads to the next question: how international collaboration in the context of ComDev activities in both Indonesia and Malaysia can be carried out given the similarities between the various targeted communities in both countries and even in the context of more extensive international collaborations, as has been done by WUACD and UMCares. All three panellists agreed that the ComDev spirit that emphasizes humbleness and collaboration and puts higher education as an integral part of the community should be a shared global commitment, transcending state boundaries.
The issue of globalization in the context of ComDev becomes more interesting when questions arise about how to interpret international rankings, which are in a completely different spirit from ComDev. Ranking requires a situation of competition, which is not only at inter-universities level, but even goes as far as individual competition between scholars. ComDev activities requiring longer time, enormous attention, and the ability to collaborate with the target community have received less appreciation than academic activities in the context of international rankings.
This note is still a tiny part of the lengthy discussion of the forum, which shows the need for dedicated, collaborative efforts from all higher education stakeholders in the world who dedicate themselves to global ComDev activities. Sharing about various challenges and how each institution overcomes problems in the implementation of innovative activities is a valuable contribution that can be an essential recommendation for stakeholders in finding the best strategy for synergizing policy and innovation in the context of a highly dynamic global society.
Author: Lina Puryanti
Translator: Nanda Shafira
