He also announced that the university has adopted a new strategy by providing early-stage incubation and seed funding for the 30 best project ideas selected, with the goal of improving USU's competitiveness in Cluster 1. Amid the growing number of student proposals, the directorate will implement a screening and idea-matching system to ensure stronger collaboration between lecturers and students throughout the proposal development process.

"The university is now changing its strategy by providing early incubation and seed funding for the 30 best ideas to help close the gap in Cluster 1," he stated.

Meanwhile, Suri Mutia Siregar, S.Psi., M.Psi., Head of the USU PKM Center, explained that according to Simbelmawa 2026 data, USU had achieved an administrative proposal acceptance rate of 70 percent, indicating strong compliance with administrative requirements. However, she noted that the quality of research substance remains a significant challenge.

To address this issue, the university has moved the preparation schedule forward to July, allowing lecturer mentors up to nine months to guide students in strengthening the research content of their proposals beyond the standards of a typical undergraduate thesis.

"USU's proposal administrative acceptance rate has reached 70 percent, but the quality of the research substance remains a major challenge. Therefore, preparations have been brought forward to July so that lecturer mentors have up to nine months to enrich students' research beyond the standard of a regular undergraduate thesis," she explained.

Mentoring students in the Student Creativity Program (PKM) requires extraordinary dedication, sincerity, and an active commitment from lecturers to refine students' presentation and research skills. Given the strong enthusiasm among USU students to compete, the university remains optimistic that this early incubation strategy will help restore USU's excellence and produce outstanding achievements at the national level in 2027.