Sanata Dharma University Welcomed Five KNB Scholarship Students
USD – On the 9th of September 2024, The International Office of Sanata Dharma University held an Orientation for the new International students under the Kemitraan Negara Berkembang (KNB) Scholarship Program. This year, Sanata Dharma University is glad to have five new International Students through the KNB program. These students are Natalia Dos Santos Soares from Timor Leste, Cassio Daniel Siqueira from Brazil, Tavonga John Junior Gwenhure from Zimbabwe, Mitzel Libania Rodriguez from Panama, and Asad Ahmed from Pakistan.
As always, these students will study at Sanata Dharma University. Three of them will be studying in the Graduate Program, Natalia in English Studies, Cassio in Cultural Studies and Mitzel in Management. Meanwhile, Tavonga is taking the Informatics Undergraduate Study Program, and Asad in Biology Education Study Undergraduate Program. Beforehand, they will undergo a mandatory Bahasa Indonesia for Foreign Speaker class (BIPA) in the Language Institute of Sanata Dharma (LBUSD) for a year to equip them with the language skills for their daily academic and non-academic life.
Held in the Biro Personalia Meeting room, the orientation was delivered by Yurisdixta Menavia, the Head of the International Office and Caecilia Tutyandari, PhD the Vice Rector IV, who also delivered her regards and good impression of the KNB students. This orientation also covered important things about the university, and immigration, as well as the daily etiquette and customs of living in Indonesia, especially in Yogyakarta. The students are also introduced to the campus facilities through a short campus tour around the first and second campuses of Sanata Dharma University.
The students shared their enthusiasm toward the program and are excited to study in Sanata Dharma. “I am very happy to be here and feel very excited because I love Yogyakarta. I also enjoy adventure, so I look forward to exploring more of Indonesia in the future, and I chose to study here because I like the program so much that I follow all the social media of USD to get more information” said Mitzel. Some of them are already partially fluent in Bahasa through online BIPA courses.
Asad mentioned that he chose Sanata Dharma for his lecturer’s recommendation. While Tavonga also mentioned similar things, he also shared that he took to study Informatics because of the underdevelopment of technology in his home country. On the other hand, Cassio also expressed his good impression “I chose USD because I am very interested in the program, especially in Cultural Studies, where I can learn about culture in general, Indonesian culture, popular art, and so on. Since I was studying literature for my bachelor’s degree, I think it suits me perfectly.” Interestingly in Natalia’s case, she already took English as her major previously and she wants to study further through English Studies (KBI).
These students will soon start their academic journey and are expected to be able to adapt accordingly and earn some accomplishment during their studies in Indonesia.
