Universitas Muhammadiyah Jambi (UM Jambi) warmly welcomed a visit from Jambi Provincial Language Office (KBPJ) on Wednesday (14/09). On the visit, the KBPJ interpreters, Lukman SPd and Wessa Ostika Utami visited UM Jambi accompanied by the KBPJ counselor, Leni Sulastri. To welcome the visit, the Vice-Rector I, Dr. Irmanelly accompanied by the Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) lecturer, Hasan Basri; the Collaboration and International Affairs office, Yorina An’guna Bansa; Language Unit, Sylvia Wenny; and UM Jambi lecturer, Oka Ediansa and Maria Ulfa.

Lukman expressed their intention of following up UM Jambi’s participation in the BIPA program (language program designed for non-native speakers of Indonesian). It aimed to support the Ministry’s program for Indonesian language internationalization through non-native speakers. “Hopefully, the campus participation in BIPA program can realize the Ministry of Education and Culture’s function to internationalize the Indonesian language,” he said. The BIPA program will support the realization of student exchange programs that are regularly conducted by the university, including UM Jambi.

Yorina mentioned that the incoming program of BIPA includes an online short course. “In UM Jambi, currently we tried to organize short courses in 1-2 months to the international students, online and offline. We also have visitour program, a cultural exploration for the international students to attract them (to learn the Indonesian language),” she said.

Furthermore, Irmanelly added that the BIPA program besides being focused to teach the Indonesian language to international students, UM Jambi will introduce the Anak Dalam tribe (SAD) in Jambi.

“We hope that besides being focused on teaching the Indonesian language in writing expressions and others, we also can introduce our existing culture in Jambi, one of them is to visit SAD,” she concluded.