IPB University’s Faculty of Forestry and Environment Aims to Launch an Environmental Science Program and International Classes
The Faculty of Forestry and Environment (Fahutan) at IPB University aims to launch a Bachelor’s Degree Program in Environmental Science in the near future. This initiative is part of efforts to strengthen the faculty’s institutional mandate while addressing the national need for human resources in the environmental sector.
This step is also part of the strategy for the internationalization of education and the strengthening of the faculty’s role in maintaining IPB University’s position in global rankings for agriculture and forestry.
The Dean of Fahutan at IPB University, Prof Dodik Ridho Nurrochmat, stated that the establishment of the Bachelor’s Program in Environmental Science is an effort to follow through on the mandate resulting from the faculty’s name change in 2020.
At that time, the Faculty of Forestry officially became the Faculty of Forestry and Environment; however, an undergraduate program in environmental science has not yet been available.
“Since August 2020, the Faculty of Forestry has been renamed the Faculty of Forestry and Environment pursuant to a directive from IPB University leadership. Until now, it turns out that the environmental mandate has remained unfulfilled, so we are trying to expedite the establishment of the Environmental Science program,” said Prof Dodik.
According to him, the existence of this program is also crucial to meet the national demand for environmental science graduates. He noted that the number of undergraduate environmental science programs in Indonesia remains very limited.
In addition to developing new programs, the Fahutan is also promoting the strengthening of educational internationalization. Prof Dodik emphasized that Fahutan plays a significant role in maintaining IPB University’s global reputation, particularly in the world rankings for agriculture and forestry.
“IPB University’s position in the world’s top 50 cannot be separated from Fahutan’s existence, as the subject specific rankings for agriculture and forestry have consistently placed it in the top 50 for the past 10 consecutive years,” he explained.
As part of these internationalization efforts, Fahutan regularly accepts international students through exchange and internship programs from various countries, including Canada and European nations.
However, he noted that the next step is to formally introduce international classes within the academic programs. “We want every program at Fahutan to have an international class. While international students have been present so far, this hasn’t been done intentionally through dedicated international classes,” he said.
He hopes that in the future, international cooperation will not only take the form of student exchanges but will also develop into reciprocal dual-degree or double-degree programs. Thus, international students will not only study temporarily at IPB University but will also be able to earn a degree.
“We want it to be not just IPB University students who receive a double degree from abroad, but their students also coming here and earning a degree from IPB,” he said. (dr) (IAAS/PRO)
