On Tuesday, November 26, 2024, the Faculty of Public Health (FPH) at the Universitas Indonesia (UI) hosted a benchmarking visit from the Bachelor of Public Health program at the Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Negeri Semarang (FK UNNES). The purpose of this visit was to learn about the best practices and strategies implemented by FPH UI, which successfully led three of its programs to achieve international accreditation from the Accreditation Agency in Health and Social Sciences (AHPGS).
This visit was part of the efforts by the Bachelor of Public Health program at UNNES to enhance the quality of education and ensure they stay aligned with international standards in public health. FPH UI, recognized as one of Indonesia’s leading faculties in public health, became the main choice for UNNES due to its achievements in obtaining international accreditation for its Bachelor of Public Health, Master of Public Health, and Master of Health Administration programs.
FPH UI has become a successful example in achieving international accreditation due to its commitment to maintaining global quality standards in education. The Bachelor of Public Health, Master of Public Health, and Master of Health Administration programs at FPH UI received accreditation from AHPGS after undergoing a rigorous process. This process included comprehensive evaluations, such as reviewing the curriculum, faculty quality, provided facilities, and the applied quality assurance system at the faculty.
During the visit, FPH UI’s Quality Assurance Manager, Prof. Dr. Besral, S.K.M., M.Sc., provided a technical presentation on quality management, while the Head of the Department of Environmental Health at FPH UI, Dr. Zakianis, S.K.M., M.K.M., explained the substance behind the AHPGS accreditation process, including tips for preparing the Self-Evaluation Report (SER). A lively question-and-answer session took place, discussing the registration mechanisms, costs, executive summary, required appendices in English, and steps to follow in preparing the SER.
As part of the benchmarking study, FPH UI also showed an example of the SER contents that had been uploaded by the assessors on the official AHPGS website in the form of an assessment report. Additionally, the Head of the Master of Public Health program, Dr. Budi Hartono, S.Si., M.K.M., also shared experiences regarding the AHPGS visitation process.
In addition to the discussions, the UNNES guests had the opportunity to visit FPH UI’s facilities that are of particular interest to AHPGS, such as the women’s parking area, health rooms (for lactation and nutrition counseling), the Faculty Service Unit (ULF) that also provides services for vulnerable groups through the use of service books in braille, accessible toilets, elevators, a children’s play area, and disabled parking at FPH UI.
FPH UI hopes that, through this visit, the Bachelor of Public Health program at Universitas Negeri Semarang will learn from FPH UI’s experiences and be able to design and implement similar steps to achieve international accreditation, thus improving the quality of education they offer.
Moreover, this visit opened up opportunities for both institutions to share experiences and build closer relationships, which can ultimately strengthen their positions as higher education institutions committed to quality and sustainable development.
The event, held at Room PA 209 RIK UI, was attended by the Vice Dean I of FK UNNES, dr. Rr. Sri Ratna Rahayu, M.Kes., Ph.D.; Vice Dean II, Dr. dr. Yuni Wijayanti, M.Kes.; Vice Dean III, Dr. Irwan Budiono, S.K.M., along with their staff. On the host’s side, the event was attended by the Vice Dean for Resources, Venturing, and General Administration of FPH UI, Dr. Milla Herdayati, S.K.M., M.Si.; Quality Assurance Manager, Prof. Dr. Besral, S.K.M., M.Sc.; Head of the Department of Environmental Health and AHPGS Report Reviewer, Dr. Zakianis, S.K.M., M.K.M.; Head of the Master of Public Health Program, Dr. Budi Hartono, S.Si., M.K.M.; Coordinator of the Academic Quality Assurance Subunit, Dian Wulandari, S.K.M., M.M., and Staff of the Academic Quality Assurance Subunit, Siti Nur Sarah Sudrajat, S.Gz. (wrk)