Surakarta, May 5, 2025 – For the first time, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta (UMS) welcomed a group of students from Uzbekistan participating in an inbound student exchange program as part of a summer course. The program started in the first week of May 2025 and began with a welcoming ceremony at the Siti Walidah Main Building, UMS.
Head of the Office of Collaboration and International Affairs (BKUI) at UMS, Andy Dwi Bayu Bawono, S.E., M.Si., Ph.D., explained that the program emphasizes both academic and cultural approaches. “We direct them to learn and engage in discussions with friends from study programs at UMS,” said Andy when receiving the Uzbek delegation on Monday (May 5th).
According to Andy, the presence of Uzbek students is a valuable opportunity to exchange learning experiences and cultures. “Trying to understand activities or culture in Uzbekistan compared to Indonesia,” he added.
The arrival of these inbound students is a continuation of the strategic cooperation between UMS and Bukhara University of Innovation established previously. One of the main points of this partnership is the student exchange between the two universities.
Andy also stated that this inbound program could open wider collaboration opportunities with other universities in Uzbekistan. “If this inbound program succeeds, UMS will open other cooperation opportunities, ranging from research to faculty exchanges,” he explained. He added, “We will also conduct faculty exchanges, where our lecturers will teach there (in Uzbekistan) and their lecturers will teach at UMS.”
A total of nine Uzbek students are participating in this program, with seven students from the Management Department of Millat Umidi University, while two others come from Bukhara University of Innovation, majoring in English Education and Informatics respectively.
Over the next week, the Uzbek students will participate in various interesting activities, including talk shows, an entrepreneurship expo, public speaking classes, classroom learning sessions, as well as cultural tours to important locations in Surakarta such as Kampung Batik Laweyan, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, Kemuning, and Solo Wholesale Center.
Andy hopes these inbound students can become ambassadors introducing Muhammadiyah and UMS in their home country. “They can share what Muhammadiyah is, especially UMS,” he concluded.
