November 14, 2025
Banjarmasin – On Friday, November 14, the Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) Unit invited a number of parties to attend the Closing Ceremony of the South East Asian (SEA) Teacher Exchange Program for 2025. The event was held in the Hasan Bondan Hall of the FKIP ULM starting at 9:00 a.m. WITA. The event was opened by the Dean of FKIP ULM, Sunarno Basuki, and attended by the Vice Dean for Academic Affairs, Deasy Arisanty; Head of General Affairs, Isnawati; Head of the MBKM Unit, Raisa Fadilla; Head of the Quality Assurance Unit (UPM), Ananda Setiawan; Principal of SMAN Banua, Risa Lisdariani; Representatives from the academic team of the Global Islamic Boarding School (GIBS), Niko Rahmad Aprilyanto; department heads within FKIP ULM; heads of FKIP ULM service areas; SEA Teacher program students, both from the Philippines and FKIP ULM students who have recently returned to their homeland.
In his opening remarks, Sunarno Basuki reiterated the faculty’s commitment to continuing this program in the coming years. “We hope to send more students despite limited funds in this era of efficiency. One solution may be to offer shared funding between the university and the students’ parents. Other universities are implementing this scheme so that they can send more students abroad for this program,” he explained. According to him, this scheme can be implemented if it receives positive responses from all parties. In addition, he also expressed his appreciation to the partner schools in this program, namely SMAN Banua and SMA GIBS, which are willing to accept students from the Philippines and assist them in teaching practice at the schools.
At the closing ceremony, four students from two universities in the Philippines, participants in the SEA Teacher program placed at FKIP ULM, presented their cultures and performed traditional Filipino arts. Maynard A. Agraan and Matt Andrew J. Ancheta from Mariano Marcos State University, along with IC Jasmine Monica M. Gaco and Praisey Ella G. Gabion from the University of the Immaculate Conception, performed dances from their respective regions, Davao and Ilocos Norte.
Regarding the continuity of the program, the Head of the MBKM Unit, Raisa Fadilla, hopes that next year, student exchanges can be carried out with other countries such as Thailand or Vietnam. “This year is a bit different from last year, we have students from two different campuses. They also interned for several days at the South Kalimantan Provincial Disability and Inclusion Service Center because some of the students came from special education programs,” she explained when asked about the differences between this year’s and previous SEA Teacher programs. (Admin)
