UNPAR.AC.ID, Bandung – Parahyangan Catholic University (UNPAR) officially launched its Faculty Education at a ceremony held on Friday, November 22, 2024, in the Multifunction Room on the 1st Floor of the Arntz Geise Learning Center (PPAG) Building. This event was a follow-up to the merger approval of STKIP Surya (Teacher Training and Education College) into UNPAR, which was received on September 3, 2024.
A Call for Educational Reform
In her welcoming remarks, Dr. Nancy Susianna M.Pd, Dean of the Faculty of Teacher Training and Education (FKIP), expressed concern over the current condition of students in Indonesia. She highlighted that Indonesia ranks only 69th out of 80 countries in the PISA organization. This is further evidenced by “red” assessment results in national education reports for numeracy and literacy.
She also drew attention to the state of educators, referencing research on 517 teachers across Java, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, and Bali. The findings revealed that only 6% were aware of the competencies students should possess, and only 3% were truly capable of designing lessons according to these required student competencies.
“This is a concern for us, for FKIP UNPAR. Therefore, we are committed to ensuring our graduates are excellent educators, researchers, and educational consultants who are humanistic, of strong character, and high quality,” she stated.
UNPAR’s New Chapter in Education
Meanwhile, UNPAR Rector Prof. Tri Basuki Joewono expressed pride in obtaining permission to run study programs in the field of education. Approaching its 70th anniversary, UNPAR now boasts 46 study programs, including 7 new ones in teacher training and education.
“Why are we proud? Because, starting this year, UNPAR can be involved in preparing future teachers. We are proud because we can begin to answer Mgr. Geise’s question from 1969,” the UNPAR Rector explained.
As quoted by the Rector, Mgr. Geise once posed a critical question regarding how Catholic universities should educate: “In what way does a Catholic university fulfill its duty to educate young men and women to become learned technologists and technocrats capable of guiding humanity toward a better understanding and a better mode of life, based on a good knowledge of the meaning of human life in all its varied forms?”
“We are grateful that UNPAR, starting this year, can fulfill a long-held aspiration. The aspiration and hope from various parties that UNPAR would have study programs producing qualified teachers to meet the needs of schools across Indonesia,” Prof. Tri Basuki said.
UNPAR Rector Prof. Tri Basuki Joewono stated that this endeavor has just officially begun. However, the responsibility for managing and developing this new faculty will be the next challenge.
“This management and development are based on UNPAR’s vision: to become a humanistic academic community that develops local potential to a global level in the fields of teacher training and education, for the enhancement of human dignity and the integrity of creation, and inspired by the motto Bakuning Hyang Mrih Guna Santyaya Bhakti, ‘Based on Divinity, seeking knowledge to be dedicated to society’,” the UNPAR Rector elaborated.
Cultivating Humanistic Educators
Through FKIP, UNPAR will strive to produce teachers imbued with spirituality, UNPAR’s core values, and supported by UNPAR’s motto. Furthermore, the aim is to cultivate teachers who are the answer to the future world—teachers who can adapt amidst rapid technological changes and teaching methods, teachers who master technology, and simultaneously teachers who embody humanity.
“Ultimately, the goal is to prepare a complete individual, to prepare teachers who are not only tech-savvy but also possess the ability to live out education as a process that touches the human side,” the UNPAR Rector revealed.
However, the UNPAR Rector stated that this aspiration would not be achieved if UNPAR worked alone. Therefore, he invited partners, collaborators, institutions, and individuals to work together in producing humanistic teachers.
“We offer our hearts and ourselves to cooperate. Let’s collaborate to provide teachers who will be the answer to the future world. Let us, here and now, begin this great work for the glory of God,” the UNPAR Rector concluded.
A Gift for UNPAR’s 70th Anniversary
In line with the UNPAR Rector, Father Basilius Hendra Kimawan, OSC, L.Th., Chairman of the UNPAR Foundation, also highlighted the history of UNPAR’s founding, particularly Mgr. Arntz and Mgr. Geise, who were also educators and then bravely established UNPAR.
He further mentioned that both UNPAR founders lived alongside Prof. Dr. N. Driyarkara SJ, the first Rector of Sanata Dharma, who emphasized education as a process of homonization and humanization. Therefore, he hoped that teachers produced by FKIP UNPAR would also become humanistic individuals.
“Homonization means the general process of humanization which then makes humans different from other living beings, and the process of humanization helps people, helps humans truly become individuals who can actualize themselves. In our language, to become a humanistic person,” Father Basilius Hendra Kimawan, OSC, L.Th. explained.
He also thanked everyone involved in establishing FKIP, stating that its establishment is a gift for UNPAR’s 70th anniversary, which will be celebrated next year.
“Proficiat, may God bless our good intentions and efforts to educate the nation, may God bless,” said the Chairman of the UNPAR Foundation. (KTH-Humas UNPAR)