The visit from the Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) to MBA ITB was welcomed by Prof. Tjandra Anggraeni, Ph.D., the Acting Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs at SBM ITB. The meeting was held on Monday, November 28, 2022, in Seminar Room 1, MBA ITB Bandung Campus, and attended by several Malaysian students. In addition to the visiting agenda, students will attend an offline class for the Cultural Diversity course taught by Andika Putra Pratama, Ph.D.
The class attended by six students, 4 of whom were students from Malaysia, was held interactively. Andika started the class with open questions about the nature of diversity, whether it is destructive or constructive. This question succeeded in provoking a two-way discussion between lecturers and students. Each student enthusiastically shared his perspective.
In addition to answering the lecturer’s questions, students engaged in sharing their experiences. One female student explained her experience in the office that one’s opinions and beliefs influence one’s professionalism at work. Her presentation dealt with the theme of diversity as separation.
Other students provided solutions as well as challenges for diversity, namely communication. Communication is a solution because it enables humans to express their opinions. It is called a challenge because when communicating, there are differences in the values held by each individual that affect how they communicate.
In addition, another student added that one way to understand individuals is to get to know their family members or those closest to them.
He also added that this course would benefit his future career. As a Senior Project Manager covering various countries with different ethnicities, the MBA program’s learning methods help broaden horizons by recognizing various perspectives.
The lecture session was closed with a group photo. The students then continued to walk around the ITB campus. The agenda for the next day was a visit to the Kazee Digital and Biofarma companies. Hadry was excited about tomorrow’s agenda, seeing other industries from the side of its business model.
