BANDUNG, Telkom University – Four Telkom University students have successfully participated in the University Innovation Fellows program organized by Stanford University’s Hasso Plattner Institute of Design (d.school). The four students are Melani Hariono (S1 Telecommunication Engineering 2018), Ibrohim Al Hanif (S1 Telecommunication Engineering 2018), Iga Narendra Pramawijaya (S1 Telecommunication Engineering 2018), and Alfi Zahra Harfizhah (S1 Information Systems 2018).
University Innovation Fellows (UIF) is a program created as part of the National Center for Engineering Pathways to Innovation (Epicenter), a five-year National Science Foundation grant (2011-2016), and became part of d.school in July 2016. This program empowers students to become agents of change in higher education.
Iga Narendra explained that this program was attended by 251 students from 65 higher education institutions in 15 countries. UIF students (hereinafter referred to as Fellows) lead the Global Movement to ensure that all students acquire the attitudes, skills, and knowledge needed to navigate a complex world and build the future through design thinking and a focus on innovation & entrepreneur (I&E).
“Student representatives from universities around the world are creating new opportunities that help their peers develop an entrepreneurial mindset, build creative self-confidence, seize opportunities, define problems, and tackle global challenges. This program helps students create student innovation spaces, start entrepreneurial organizations, facilitate workshop experiences, collaborate with faculty and administrators to develop new courses, and much more,” he explained.
The program also provides advocates for long-term institutional change with academic leaders and channels much-needed students to voice issues about the future of higher education.
Melani Hariono also added that the UIF is held online from August to October 2021. This program begins with a 6-week training activity in which each student does a different task with the team every week.
“The purpose of this training activity is to provide solutions to campus problems that have been selected by the team. UIF will also host the Silicon Valley final meeting in San Francisco, USA. in March 2022, but due to the pandemic, we are still waiting for the decision,” Melani explained.
This UIF program is the first year in Indonesia, especially Telkom University. It is hoped that in the future it can open up opportunities for other students to join and be able to contribute to universities, countries, and the world.