The Semarang State Polytechnic (Polines) delegation consisting of four students, Ayu Indrasari Saputri, Nurul Devi Ariyani, Salsabila Elingga H., and Tisa Maulika, participated in the activity 2019 International Student Leadership Camp held by NKUST (National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology) First Campus, Taiwan, on 15 – 21 July 2019.
This annual activity, which is a form of collaboration between Polines and NKUST, aims to develop leadership competencies that help maximize students' potential to equip them for a career, social and individual life. In addition, this activity is also expected to increase the competence of understanding culture between nations through direct interaction between activity participants from several countries and community service.
Not all (52) camp participants managed to go through a series of activities that lasted for seven days continuously from 07.00 to 23.00 local time, but four participants from Indonesia were quite strong and active in completing each activity which included: workshop on meeting, debating, and leadership; simulated meetings; debate on social issues; community service and learning activities; and local cultural field trips. In fact, two awards were successfully obtained by Nurul Devi Ariyani, namely: “Leader of the Year” and “Outstanding Delegate in Simulated Meeting.”
“The participants from Polines are really proud, their enthusiasm for learning is very high, this is shown by their active participation in every discussion and activity, their level of adaptability is also extraordinary, they quickly mingle with participants from other countries, even Tisa Maulika is one of the most popular participants. , their English skills are good and have received praise from Professor Chi-Fen Emily Chen, Ph.D., the Camp organizer,” said Dra. Nur Rini, M.Pd., assistant to the delegation.
This activity is very useful in improving students' soft-skills, as stated by Tisa, "This camp is very fun, we can gain a lot of experience, not only developing abilities in academics but also soft-skills, as well as getting many friends from abroad as the beginning of building a broad network," and Salsa also said, "As my first trip abroad, I learned many lessons from communication, relationship building, cultural understanding and formal lessons such as meetings and debates as well as simulations." Thus, the participation of Polines should be continued for years to come. Meanwhile, Nurul Devi hopes, "Polines can get a bigger quota so that more students will have the opportunity to take part in this camp activity." In his speech Professor Chen responded positively that next year Polines will get a bigger quota. For 2019, the camp participants came from Japan, Indonesia, Taiwan, and Thailand.
Additional forms of cooperation between Polines and NKUST are being discussed, including the implementation of intensive lectures for two-three months, transfer credits and the possibility double degree.