Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development (CHERD) held a welcoming ceremony for Palestine Scholarship awardee in the Daily Advisory Board (BPH) Courtroom, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS), Tuesday (29/03). The first batch’s awardee, Fathi Sulaiman A. Alrawagh, is a Palestine student who will pursue a Master’s degree in Technical Engineering at UMS for two-and-a-half years. The ceremony was attended by Andy Dwi Bayu Bawono, M.Si., PhD, the Vice-Treasurer of CHERD; Prof. Harun Joko Prayitno, the Vice-Rector I UMS; Muamaroh, PhD, the Director of Student Dormitory (PESMA) UMS; Prof Dr Anam Sutopo, MHum, the Rector Secretary UMS; and the Head of Master Technical Engineering Program.
In his remarks, Andy Dwi Bayu Bawono, MSi, PhD appreciated to Ust Adi Hidayat Institute, National Zakat Agency in Indonesia (Baznas RI), Muhammadiyah Institute for Zakat, Infaq, Sadaqah (LazisMu) as the funding institutions to trust Muhammadiyah in managing the scholarship funds for Palestine students. “We hope the first batch of Palestine Scholarship becomes the first good start for other awardees in the future,” he said.
Prof Harun, the Vice Rector I UMS warmly welcomed Fathi as the first Palestine Scholarship awardee in UMS. “We expect that Fathi Sulaiman could focus on academics and finish his study on time. He also could learn Indonesian culture, especially in Surakarta, to have a cultural exchange between Palestine and Indonesia in general,” he said. The agenda ended with the symbolic submission from Muhammadiyah CHERD, Andy Bawono, to UMS, Prof Harun, as the symbolic handed over the Palestine student to UMS.
The Palestine Scholarship Program is a program launched by Baznas RI, LazisMu, and CHERD through the Ma’had Islam Rafiatul Akhyar (MIRA) donation of Ustadz Adi Hidayat (UAH). The program was divided into two programs, the Master’s degree (2 years) and the Short Course program (1 month). The program that also involved several Muhammadiyah Higher Education Institutions (MHEIs) in Indonesia was planned to be organized in two batches.
