USU PR—"The Master's Program in Natural Resource Management at the Graduate School of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) received a field assessment visitation from the National Accreditation Agency for Higher Education (BAN-PT). The event took place in the meeting room on the first floor of the Graduate School on Thursday (May 30, 2024).

In his address, USU Rector Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si. welcomed the assessment team from BAN-PT, consisting of Dr. Ir. Prastawa Budi, M.Sc. from Hasanuddin University; Dr. Ir. Merry Hasmeda, M.Sc. from Sriwijaya University; and Eko Pramono, M.Kom. from the BAN-PT team.

"We hope this activity yields the best results for the accreditation of the Master's Program in Natural Resource Management, thus enhancing its accreditation status," said Prof. Muryanto.

The Master's Program in Natural Resource Management and Environment at USU has been operating since 1985. Its three main missions are to provide master's education for sustainable development, pioneer research in natural resource and environmental management, and serve the community in sustainable natural resource management.

Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos., M.Si. also appreciated the performance of the USU Graduate School, which has surpassed several indicators of a World Class University, such as increasing international academic activities and the number of Scopus-indexed articles. However, he also noted some targets that have not been achieved and hoped that this assessment would help identify barriers and provide suggestions for improvement.

In an interview, Prof. Dr. dr. Muhammad Fidel Ganis Siregar, M.Ked(OG), Sp.O.G, Subsp.F.E.R., as the Secretary of Universitas Sumatera Utara, expressed his hope for better results from this assessment than before.

"We expect better results from this assessment. Although many achievements have been made, some aspects still need improvement," he said.

Furthermore, Prof. Ir. T. Sabrina M.Agr.Sc., Ph.D., as the Director of Graduate Studies, stated that the curriculum must always be evaluated to align with the times. Therefore, they also implemented a practitioner-teaching program, where professionals from the industry participate in teaching to provide practical perspectives to students.

Dr. Ir. Prastawa Budi, M.Sc, one of the assessors from Hasanuddin University, explained that the accreditation ranking now no longer uses the terms 'good,' 'very good,' and 'excellent' but has been replaced with 'accredited' and 'not accredited.'

"'Accredited' means the program meets the quality standards set by the Permanent Audit Group, while those that do not meet them will be declared 'not accredited,'" he clarified."

Author: bambang riyanto - staf humas

Interviewee: Prof. Dr. Muryanto Amin, S.Sos, M.Si - Rektor USU

Photographer: Amri Simatupang - Staf Humas