UMY’s International Students Enrollment Increased by 145%!
In this year’s new student admissions, a total of 1,473 international applicants from 60 nations registered at the Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY). This is a remarkable accomplishment for UMY.
Yordan Gunawan, Head of the UMY International Relations Office, expressed his gratitude for UMY’s role in encouraging potential international students to enroll during a pandemic. Furthermore, the number of registrants has increased by 100 percent from the previous year.
“Alhamdulillah, in 2022 there is a considerable increase in the number of international student registrations. This year, 1,411 foreign students from 60 countries are enrolling at UMY, up from 190 in 2019 and 601 in 2021,” said Yordan, Thu 16/6.
According to Yordan, the majority of the international applicants to UMY are from the Middle East and Africa, 247 individuals that are enrolling originated from Afghanistan, 129 prospective students from Angola, 90 from Yemen, and about 60 prospective students each from Pakistan and Nigeria.
Other registrants are scattered from various parts of the world. Such as the United States, Turkey, Tunisia, Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Russia, and Poland. “This is an unprecedented achievement from UMY and a sharp positive development of UMY’s international reputation and feasibility for foreign students”
He added that there will be a further increase in foreign students’ interest in enrolling at UMY. In other capacities, to further bolster their international standing, UMY plan to hold an Ambassador Gathering on June 16, 2022, at the Muhammadiyah Menteng Central Executive Building, Jakarta.
“This event aims to provide the best information to embassies who are present regarding UMY,” said Yordan. As a form of communication between UMY and embassies regarding foreign students who inquire on the condition of the campus, they are about to study at, in addition to ensuring the clean record from inbound foreign students who will study in UMY.
A representative from the UMY Admissions Bureau, Imam Suprabowo, explained the Admissions Bureau’s role in the admission process of foreign students in UMY, starting last year and continuing this year. Imam adds that their steps ahead on Admissions Bureau is to create a centralized SIM or application procedure which he hopes is able to create an easier environment for foreign students to enroll in UMY, administration-wise.
Imam believes that the changes that are already implemented also contributed to the increase of foreign students enrolling at UMY. From the 1,473 foreign students who registered at UMY, it is noted that there are several study programs that generate the most interest, such as the Engineering Study Program.
He adds, Civil Engineering Study Program, Dentistry Study Program, and Electrical Engineering Study Program also registered 50 registrants each. Meanwhile, in the humanities faculties, the most popular are Management Studies, English Education, and International Relations.
“Nevertheless, all study programs are generally in high demand by foreign students who register at UMY,” said Imam.
He added, from the admissions point of view, in the future, of course, Admissions Bureau must create an environment that can facilitate the dissemination of information for new international students. Thus, it is hoped that foreign students studying at UMY can further spread the good news from UMY. Imam adds “(Such developments ) are made with the aim to spread the news to each prospective students’ origin country, (that) UMY is one of the best private universities in Indonesia that is has established themself to be able to accommodate foreign students,” said Imam.