The Faculty of Engineering (Fakultas Teknik/FT), Universitas Hasanuddin (Unhas), once again held an international conference entitled "The 4th EPI International Conference on Science and Engineering (EICSE)". This conference highlighted the theme "Strengthening UIG-based Research Collaboration and Innovation in Adapting to the Pandemic and Disruptive Era."

The activity started at 09.30 WITA virtually through the zoom meeting application on Tuesday (06/10).

Prof. Ir. Nizam, M.Sc., DIC., Ph.D. (Director General of Higher Education Ministry of Education and Culture), Prof. Rudi Djamaluddin, M.Eng (Acting Mayor of Makassar), Prof. Yoshihiro Narita (Hokkaido University, Japan), Prof. Hirofumi Hinata (Ehime University, Japan), Prof. Robert De Souza (National University of Singapore) and Dr. Muqtada Ali Khan (University Malaysia Kelantan) attended as speakers.

Starting the activity, Dr. Eng. Faisal Mahmuddin, ST., M.Eng., said the conference was an annual activity organized by the Center of Technology (COT) and was part of the Anniversary of the Faculty of Engineering. This year, apart from receiving papers, the organizing committee also presented an innovation video and several activities that support the conference.

"For this year's conference, we received hundreds of papers from participants, which will be evaluated and published in the Scopus indexed Journal. Even though it is virtual, we appreciate the enthusiasm of the participants who took part in the activity," explained Faisal.

On the same occasion, the Dean of FT Unhas, Prof. Dr. Ir. Muhammad Arsyad Thaha, MT., expressed his gratitude to the speakers for sharing their knowledge and experiences. Conferences with various discussion topics are expected to increase the participation of lecturers and researchers to develop research.

"This conference is a good opportunity to present and to publish research results. The participants have the opportunity to prepare manuscripts in international Scopus indexed journals," explained Prof. Arsyad.

The Vice-Rector for Research and Innovation, Prof. dr. Muh. Nasrum Massi, Sp.MK, Ph.D., officially opened the activity. In his remarks, he briefly explained the achievements of Unhas in the Clustering of Higher Education, in which Unhas was able to increase its position to 7th Rank in Indonesia. Besides, he also conveyed about Unhas' target to become a World Class University (WCU).

"There are many indicators in WCU. The current activity is hoped to encourage academic reputation and International Ratio for the Faculty. We hope that initiatives like this can be sustained, especially in developing collaborative research according to the topic of discussion," explained Prof. Nasrum.

The official opening was continued with presentations from the speakers.

Prof. Ir. Nizam, M.Sc., DIC., Ph.D. (Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture), explained in his presentation that universities are expected to work together with industry, government, and society to achieve SDGs goals by preparing human resources quality.

"To support the quality of human resources, increasing the relevance and quality of education, such as engineering education, requires good methods and preparation to meet the present and future challenges. So, strengthening Penta Helix professional education is needed as an ecosystem for future development, "said Nizam.

According to the schedule, the EICSE conference will be running until Wednesday (07/10) with several agendas. (* / Mir)

Editor: Ishaq Rahman, AMIPR

Head of sub-directorate of Public Relation and Information

Directorate of Communication Hasanuddin University

Translator: Kumara Tungga Dewa and Karmila Mokoginta