Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research, and Development (CHERD) closed a public relation workshop on Saturday (02/07). The workshop that raised “Public Relations Development Batch 1” collaborated with Communication Science Association (APIK) MHEIs. The opening ceremony of the workshop was previously held on Thursday (30/06) at Cavinton Hotel, Yogyakarta. Based on the report from the Chairman of APIK MHEIs, the 55 participants followed this public relations workshop. All participants have applicative knowledge about public relations, communication, and experiences of MHEIs’ public relations (PR). Two representatives of participants, Ariadi Nugraha from Universitas Ahmad Dahlan (UAD) and Dian Rahma Santoso from UM Sidoarjo (UMSIDA), delivered their testimonies. They highlighted their expectation that the sharing session was not finished as the workshop ended, but they also proposed an association for public relations in MHEIs.

On this occasion, Prof Dr. Chairil Anwar, the Vice Chairman of Muhammadiyah Council for Higher Education, Research and Development (CHERD), expressed his support for the association’s establishment. Principally, the association was a follow-up plan for all members to learn and share the PR activities. Prof Chairil Anwar also mentioned the plan to organize a workshop in the second batch. “For the concept, we require inputs, rather than to organize in workshops or more practical training,” he said.

At the closing ceremony, the facilitators rewarded the best participants with several achievements, including Ade Ismail Ramadhan Hamid, UM Kalimantan Timur representative, and Sinta Maharani, UNISA Yogyakarta as favorite participants. Meanwhile, the participant with the highest progress test was achieved by Tria Adi Saputra, UM Ponorogo, and the most active participant was performed by Asef Dwi Nugroho, UM Surakarta.