T

he chemistry undergraduate program of Gadjah Mada University (UGM), Yogyakarta, has received an accreditation from the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in the United Kingdom. RSC is the biggest international organization in Europe committed to the development of chemical science.

The announcement was conveyed to the university through an email earlier this week. The accreditation is effective from March 5, 2013 until March 2018. It was the first international accreditation ever received by the university.

“With the accreditation, UGM’s chemistry undergraduate program has been acknowledged to be at the same level of quality as the world’s renowned universities that have been previously accredited,” chairman of the chemistry undergraduate program’s international accreditation team, Roto, said.

RSC has accredited the chemistry undergraduate and postgraduate programs of the world’s renowned universities including the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge and Imperial College, London.

RSC so far has accredited over 200 chemistry undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the world, Roto said.

The accreditation, according to Roto, was based on 14 key criteria. They included the depth and width of the taught chemistry syllabus, the students’ practical skills in offering solutions to problems related to chemistry, the quality of the students’ final assignments and the students’ ability to apply their professional skills.

The accreditation process at UGM’s chemistry undergraduate program was conducted since 2012, he said.

The accreditation is seen as advantageous because it leads to the creation of international networks and collaboration, provides credibility to the alumni and end users of the alumni in the global job market and is a recognition of the education quality of the chemistry program from international assessors.

Separately, head of the chemistry undergraduate program, Triyono, said that with the accreditation the program has completed all the accreditation that a study program of an international standard could have.

Previously, he said, the study program had also received accreditation from National Accreditation Agency (BAN) and had consecutively had the A predicate. In 2009 it was examined by the ASEAN University Network (AUN) and this year it gets an international recognition.