As a Muhammadiyah Higher Education Institution (MHEI) that was encouraged to develop in several years, Universitas Muhammadiyah Sumatera Barat (UMSB) has improved rapidly and deserved to be appreciated. From the human resource, forty-three lecturers from 198 held their doctoral degrees which are above the national average of doctoral lecturers ratio. The number of students is over 5000 people that placed UMSB as the middle range MHEIs among 166 institutions in Indonesia. That was a statement of Deputy Chair of Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development (CHERD), Prof Edy Suandi Hamid as the Coordinator of MHEIs Sumatera Assistance to respond to the report of UMSB Rector, Dr Riki Saputra on the assisting agenda in UMSB Campus, Wednesday (12/01).

Prof Edy was accompanied by Prof Sjafri Sairin, Dr Budhi Akbar, and Dr Sulaiman. “With the big picture of UMSB, currently, it has a high potency to develop rapidly to establish as an excellent, prominent, high competitiveness university,” said Prof Edy. On the other hand, historically, UMSB is the oldest MHEI in Indonesia that was relatively left behind in development and operated without accelerative management.

In addition, Sumatera Barat is a province with a high cadre quantity that has a strong Muhammadiyah ideological status compared to the other province. “Therefore, it should be an extra effort to elevate UMSB as a leading university, both in Sumatera Barat and national, especially if we compare with other universities,” said Prof Edy to UM Sumbar leaders. On this occasion, Dr Riki Saputra reported 13 details of problems faced by UM Sumbar. “The accreditation standard transformation and the paid Independent Accreditation Institute (LAM) will be our problem. The hybrid learning process in the Covid period will also influence the UMSB learning process and qualities,” said the Rector of UM Sumbar.