UNAIR NEWS – To facilitate students in training  their diplomacy and negotiating skills at international level, Universitas Airlangga has a community called Airlangga Model United Nation (AIRMUN) Club. Every year there are many MUN events students can participate. But, AIRMUN Club members only holds selection for students who wants to participate in Harvard National Model United Nations (HNMUN), Harvard World Model United Nations (WMUN), and Asia-Pacific Model United Nations Conference (AMUNC).

Now, AIRMUN club members want to change the organizational structure, from a community to students club (UKM). They expect legitimacy and acknowledgement of other UNAIR civitas academica including Directorate of Student Affairs. Ni Putu Indah Maharani as the head of AIRMUN club 2016 made the statement.

“AIRMUN Club all this time had some funding problem as the club is not an organization which has a decree. It is quite unfortunate if we do not establish the UKM. The club does not only facilitate students who want to follow MUN only, but also to facilitate students who want to train their skill in negotiating and English,” said the student from International Relations (HI) FISIP UNAIR known as Rani.

Rani wants AIRMUN Club has members with varied objectives. In her opinion, students from other programs also need skill to public speaking and English. So it should not be a problem if there are students who would like to join AIRMUN Club but are not interested in joining MUN events.

Rani believes that this community can make UNAIR well-known at international level.

“UNAIR wants to be a World Class University. So we can participate in events, why should’nt we?” she said.

In April 2016, AIRMUN Club is going to hold recruitments and roadshow to all faculties to invite students and introduce the club.

“People may think that MUN is only for HI students. In fact, it isn’t. UN itself has many different committee, such as WHO (World Health Organization) which deals with Health problems. It suits students from Faculty of Medicine. There is also UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization). Most important thing actually, we can learn public speaking. Any professions will need the skill and we can train more in AIRMUN Club,” Rani said.

Citra Hennida, a lecturer from HI FISIP UNAIR, agrees with Rani’s statements. Citra often assists UNAIR students who will compete in MUN events. She emphasized that AIRMUN club is not only about MUN events, but many soft skills can also be improved in the community.

“What should be kept in mind is that AIRMUN, is not only about MUN, but also to improve students’ softskills especially in English. Furthermore, we’re at MEA (ASEAN Economic Community). Technical students or any students, if they sell something, they  need good communicative skill and confidence. By joining AIRMUN, we hone our skills on those,” Citra said. (*)

Author: Defrina Sukma S.
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh