Riki Saputra was again appointed as the rector of Universitas Muhammadiyah (UM) Sumatera Barat for 2023-2027, Tuesday (7/2). “I highly appreciate the trust in me as the Rector of UM Sumatera Barat for the second time. It is a mandate that must be implemented collectively and involves various external and internal stakeholders’ support,” he said. Riki Saputra added at least five outlines of UMSB milestones in 2023-2027.

First, accelerating the accreditation status of study programs and higher education institutions. “As an educational institution, our responsibility to the public is accreditation,” he said. He also added that currently, from 28 study programs at UM Sumatera Barat, 90 percent of them have Good and Very Good grades, but none has excellent accreditation status. In the future, he hoped that at least 35 percent would have excellent status.

Second, as a private higher education institution, UMSB will experience fluctuations in financial condition and the number of students. “Our target is to maintain and maximize it (finance and students) and we will have business units to be an income generator in order to maintain, strengthen and stabilize the university going forward,” he said. Third, socializing the education 4.0 where digitized learning process is mandatory.

Riki admitted that during the Covid-19 pandemic, educational institutions were forced to be more implementing digital literacy in a positive context. A blessing in disguise, the pandemic forced all private universities to change and be digitally literate. Fourth, we keep implementing the values of Islam and Muhammadiyah. These values must be integrated for public concern and research.

Fifth, how to manage internal change management. It encouraged all structural officials and civitas academics to work from their hearts, work sincerely, fully committed and dedicated to be the super team. “In the previous period, we had implemented a super team method. From 2020 onwards,  based on three survey institutions, we were named as the best private university in West Sumatra, and become the big 4 private and state universities in West Sumatera. We believe that with super team work, our target to be the 3 top-ranked universities will be achieved,” he said.

During his first period, 65 percent were invested in infrastructure and campus appearance and 35 percent were in human resource development. Meanwhile, in the second period, 65 percent will be used for human resource development and 35 percent for infrastructure. UMSB also highlighted an internationalization program. “We have international students from Yemen and there are also American students who study online. We hope it will increase,” he said. Currently, said Riki, there are 5,300 students at UM Sumatera Barat and they are targeting to raise about 8,000 in the future.