Binus set to produce graduates recognized across the globe

Hamzah Puadi Ilyas ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/02/2008 1:46 PM

Bina Nusantara University (Binus) aims to produce highly qualified, good character and ready-to-work graduates by offering not only character-building subjects but also entrepreneurship.

"We have character-building subjects tailored to form good soft skills such as personality, attitude and behavior, while entrepreneurship aims to build entrepreneurial spirit. Binus graduates are expected to be able not only create a job but also inspire people to be independent," said Binus vice rector Bahtiar Saleh Abbas, PhD

Binus was established with a vision of becoming a leading educational institution based on information technology, producing graduates ready for competition and adaptable to global change.

Aside from core curriculum referring to guidelines from the Education Ministry, Binus also tailors supporting competency curriculum equipping students with soft skills, entrepreneurship, mastery of foreign languages and ICT (information and communication technology).

"Therefore, we partner with some 1,000 companies as we want our students to master entrepreneurship skills," he said.

To fully develop students' potential, Binus adopts a student-centered approach in which lecturers play roles as a facilitator, moderator or partner. "In implementing the approach, we adopt the Multi Channel Learning (MCL) concept that enables students not only to learn in a classroom setting but also through on-line discussion forums and independent study," he said.

The student-centered approach doesn't mean brushing lecturers' quality aside. Binus has set up a so-called Lecture Resource Center (LRC), in charge of improving lecturers' competency in terms of the teaching-learning process. The center evaluates the lecturers by doing classroom observations and getting students to fill out questionnaires.

For the sake of objectivity, the questionnaires simply evaluate the teaching-learning process, not the lecturers. The evaluation is to find out whether the teaching-learning process is carried out properly or not by using a Key Performance Indicator (KPI).

The LCR also improves lecturers' knowledge in information technology to qualify for a minimum standard set by the institution.

Binus is equipped with sophisticated teaching facilities such as projectors in classrooms, different kinds of laboratories for all majors, library, learning centers, Internet access called Cyber@access Club and bookstores. The facilities are expected to help students optimize their knowledge input. "For students majoring in broadcasting, applying what they learn in the classroom is very important. That's why Binus established Binus TV," he said.

He said that through Cyber@access Club, students can access the Internet and exchange information with others worldwide. "The club provides web browsing, electronic mail, newsgroups, telnet, chatting and File Transfer Protocol (FTP) in which students can copy a file from a remote computer," he said.

Currently, Binus has some 23,000 students, of whom 50 percent come from outside Jakarta. It employs 625 lecturers.

Students, lecturers and employers are obliged to use an ID card called Binusian card. Binusian refers to people working and studying at Binus and alumni.

"The card is created based on a barcode system and magnetic stripe, similar to a credit card. Aside from checking grades, using the card students can check schedules, together with the hardcopy, while the lecturers can check and borrow reference books from the library on line," he said.

With such modern facilities to support the teaching-learning process, Binus expects to reach its goal of becoming a world-class university by 2020. "In the future we hope to have Binus outside Indonesia," said Bahtiar.

Binus made a significant achievement when it received the ISO 9001 certificate. The university was also voted as "The Best Higher Education Computer Institute" by the Board of Higher Education, District III, ministry of education and culture in 1986.

Binus is ready to produce globally recognized graduates.

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