To Provide a Platform for Student Innovation, Hasanuddin University, in collaboration with HEPI USAID, Inaugurated the Maker Innovation Space at the Faculty of Engineering.
Following the visit by Jeffery P. Cohen, USAID Indonesia Mission Director, today, Monday, April 22, 2024, Hasanuddin University, together with HEPI USAID, officially inaugurated the Maker Innovation Space at the Student Center Building of the Hasanuddin University Faculty of Engineering.
The MIS was officially inaugurated by the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Hasanuddin University, Prof. Dr. Eng. Ir. Muhammad Isran Ramli, S.T., M.T., IPM., AER. He was accompanied by the Director of the Economic Growth and Education Office at USAID Indonesia, Farhad Ghaussy; Arizona State University Representative Thomas Becskehazy; USAID Country Director Abdul Rahman, Ph.D.; the Country Manager of Rockwell Automation; IPM; CSA; CESAM; L2; and the Associate Deans.
The Maker Innovation Space is a collaborative project between Hasanuddin University and USAID HEPI aimed at providing a multifunctional space designed to support the process of generating or creating innovations through various facilities and tools for producing prototypes, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in partnership with Arizona State University (ASU) through the Higher Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI) project.
The MIS project is not only being implemented at Hasanuddin University but also targets two other universities in Indonesia: the Bandung Institute of Technology and Bina Nusantara University.
In his remarks, Farhad stated that USAID consistently strives to provide assistance to advance education in Indonesia and foster a high-quality generation of citizens. Farhad also explained that the reason for selecting Unhas as one of the project’s targets was that Unhas and USAID have maintained a long-standing collaboration across various sectors—particularly in education—leading USAID to assess that Unhas is capable and deserving of being a target for this MIS project.
In addition to the MIS, it is hoped that this initiative will support the achievements of Hasanuddin University both at the national level and, most importantly, at the international level, as stated by USAID Country Director Abdul Rahman, Ph.D.: “The MIS is a platform to prepare students to compete at the national and international levels.”
Meanwhile, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Prof. Isran, stated in his remarks that the MIS is not only available to students in the Faculty of Engineering but can be utilized by all students at Hasanuddin University in particular. The reason it was located in the Faculty of Engineering is that the Faculty of Engineering is considered more representative and better suited for the initiative, given that the facilities provided are more focused on engineering disciplines.
Prof. Isran also hopes that with the Maker Innovation Space, the creative ideas of our students—not only at Unhas but also serving as an example for students in Eastern Indonesia—will be implemented in concrete ways.