Fajri Asshiddiqi is a student of the Hospitality Management study program, Vocational Faculty, Universitas Brawijaya. Through the Indonesia International Student Mobility Award for Vocational Student, Fajri had the opportunity to study at Daegu Catholic University, one of the famous universities in the country of ginseng.
“I chose Daegu Catholic University as the destination campus for the IISMAVO program, because Daegu Catholic University’s track record is quite good as the 2nd best campus in Daegu city, and is very well known for its quality, both from health science to social sciences. Furthermore, DCU also provides a program that I am currently working on, namely the hospitality industry,” he explained.
During running IISMAVO, Fajri took the Hotel Convention Department program with 3 courses in it. “In IISMAVO, awardee candidates are not allowed to choose a program outside of the program implemented at the origin university. In addition, I also want to study the internationally hospitality industry, so that I will be more sensitive and adaptable to various hospitality services abroad and re-implement it in Indonesia when I start my career in the domestic industry later,” he explained.
According to Fajri, there are not many differences that can be found in the lecture process both at Universitas Brawijaya and at Daegu Catholic University. “It’s just that I feel more confident in interacting in lectures because the lecture system which is carried out fully in English encourages me to practice my communication skills in English, especially I want to deepen my skills in English,” he said.
In addition, he added, the majority of the assignments given were the result of real cases experienced by teaching lecturers. “The lecturers themselves have worked in the hospitality industry before. The obstacle is language. Dormitory employees and the community around my campus (restaurant, dining, grocery store employees) cannot communicate in English, so this makes me worried during the first week in my neighborhood,” he added.
However, as time went on, Fajri began to understand a little of what they were trying to say such as how much to pay when transacting, using a naver map (Korean special way), and others, so Fajri really enjoyed his lectures at DCU. .
Many activities impressed Fajri, such as he managed to make friends with students from Kyrgyztan, Bangladesh, and Italy through programs organized by the DCU international office. “I also made friends with Korean students through the student club I participated in, namely Summit237,” he added.
When preparing for his departure to South Korea, he was provided with various matters such as financial management, cross-cultural understanding, creative content management, and others. This was organized in a pre-departure series program by IISMAVO team.
“After my period ends, I will prepare myself to implement the knowledge I gained during IISMA through an internship program and return to focus on studying to maintain the good name of IISMA and Universitas Brawijaya. I also plan to join the IISMA alumni association to help awardees for the next period,” he concluded. (nissa/VQ/ Humas UB/ Trans. Iir)
