Tag: Universitas Sumatera Utara

2024 is a political year in Indonesia. General elections will be held in February 2024. Reporting from the kpu.go.id website, there are 204.8 million voters in the KPU data who are entitled to vote in 2024.

The data already includes the number of gen Z which is included in the voter data as a beginner voter. Considering this, Tular Nalar 3.0 collaborated with Faculty of Social and Political Science(FISIP) University of Sumatera Utara (USU) to organize a Sekolah Kebangsaan that provides direction for all novice voters on how to vote, where to get accurate and credible information about elections, and who can vote according to laws and regulations.

The event was held at FISIP USU hall which was attended by the Dean of FISIP USU, Dr. Hatta Ridho,S.Sos., MSP, Communication Science Lecturer Moulita, S.Sos., M.A., and Yovita Sabarina Sitepu, S.Sos., M.Si. as the chief executive. This activity was accompanied by 10 facilitators, namely Rachel, Yasmin, Fadli, Anastasya, Adi,rnDavid, Putri, Nasha, Kesya, and Daniel Adiw.

Beginner voters seemed very enthusiastic about participating in this event, this can be seen from the number of participants who exceeded the committee’s target of 130 participants(target 100 participants).

Through this activity, Yovita as the PIC hopes that after this Tunar Nalar (TN) activity, hopefully the participants can transmit the knowledge they have gained regarding hoax sensing to their friends, relatives, and family. They can detect whether information received on social media is a hoax or not. In addition, because this is in the context of the election, so with this activity the spread of hoaxes during the election can be reduced. And Gen Z also actively participates in the democratic party, both by exercising their voting rights and maintaining a democratic climate that has minimal political hoaxes.

Adolescence is a critical stage in life. Teenagers usually explore new experiences during this stage and confront the difficulty of participating in rigorous activities without constraints. This is a test phase for everything that will help them in the future, including their career and health.

However, health difficulties are frequently an impediment for teenagers. Many people believe that life at this stage is a time of great freedom. They ignore one critical issue: health concerns. Improving lifestyles is an excellent strategy to alleviate teenagers’ existing problems. This is because adolescence is a valuable time for adolescents in good bodily and psychological health.

The Klub Jantung Remaja (KJR) was founded to promote the awareness of Indonesian youth about healthy living, notably heart and vascular disorders, through various educational and counseling programs. KJR is a branch of the Indonesian Heart Foundation that focuses on healthy living for teenagers.

Nurhasanah, or Hasanah, is the active coordinator of North Sumatra’s Klub Jantung Remaja (KJR). Nurhasanah, also known as Hasanah, has been involved in a variety of activities since she was in high school. She was hired as the Coordinator of KJR North Sumatra after graduating from North Sumatra University (USU).

“The Healthy Heart Exercise is a regular program at KJR North Sumatra.” This exercise is open to the public and occurs four times a week on open fields, such as Ahmad Yani Park on Tuesdays, Telkom on Thursdays and Saturdays, and PTPN 4 on Sundays, beginning at 7:00 a.m. KJR is active in one of the programs of the Indonesian Heart Foundation (YJI). So, every time the Healthy Heart Exercise is held, anybody exercising nearby, whether teenagers or adults, can participate,” Hasanah stated in an interview.

Aside from healthy exercise, KJR also offers educational lectures to its members every month. “Young people still in high school or college are welcome to join KJR.” You will receive many knowledge and perks, such as educational lectures. “As a result, each member will be equipped with knowledge on how to care for the heart, good foods to consume, symptoms of heart disease and how to handle them, and other heart-related education,” Hasanah explained. Finally, Hasanah voiced her hope: “Never overlook heart health.” You will feel the impact on your body in the future if you start with a little more like joining a health community.

Recently, the development of technology is increasingly rapid with the times. Teenagers are digital natives in the digital age with a high level of digital exposure. However, weak digital literacy is a problem faced by adolescents globally.

There are still many teenagers who are not familiar about crimes on social media (cybercrime). However, when they were asked about experiences related to cyber bullying, 85.5% of participants admitted to having experienced it (e.g. hate speech, hoaxes, and scamming).

Based on the data they have obtained, Tim Pengabdian Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) from the Communication Science Study Program, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, chaired by Prof. Dr. Iskandar Zulkarnain, M.Si together with his two colleagues Farida Hanim, S.Sos, M.I.Kom and Arief Marizki Purba, SE, S.Sos, M.Si made digital literacy training for teenagers using social media at SMA Negeri 1 Berastagi.

In this activity, they were accompanied by Magnifier Publisher, a group of students consisting of Nadya Elisabeth, Ferry Dharmawan, Sarah Haninditya, Dea Gracia, and Sandrina Humaira who really care about digital literacy and feel they have an urgency to share their experiences related to digital literacy with other students.

The methods used in this service activity are training with details of participants digital literacy ability tests, interactive quizzes, case studies and scenarios from participants real experiences, discussions from videos and animations, giving personal and group assignments, and games related to digital literacy.

Tim Pengabdian hopes that after this digital literacy training activity is completed, the participants can understand more about digital literacy and be more aware of the do’s and don’ts on social media.

Based on a report from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, Indonesia’s literacy culture score is 57.4 points in 2022. This value was recorded as an increase of 5.7% compared to the previous year which was 54.29 points. Even though this percentage has increased, the figure is not good enough to create quality human resources.

To increase people’s interest in reading, many literacy activists are endlessly inviting Indonesian people to get closer and love literacy. One of them is a literacy activist from North Sumatra, Eka Dalanta Tarigan.

Eka Dalanta, an alumnus of the Indonesian Literature Department, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) who is a literacy activist and active in the field of literature. Because of her love of literature, she and 4 other writers founded a community called Ngobrol Buku.

Ngobrol Buku is a community in the city of Medan, North Sumatra which was founded with the determination to change the stigma that thinks literature is difficult to understand and boring. The topics discussed are also presented in an interesting and non-monotonous way so that the audience has a deeper interest in books and literature.

The establishment of this community is useful for increasing public awareness to be more interested in literacy and literature. “Talking about literature is important, because it will make us individuals who have a sense of empathy and an attitude that humanizes other humans well,” said Eka.

She added, “The aim of creating this community is also to introduce the richness of Indonesian literature to a wide audience, especially young people, therefore we use social media platforms such as Instagram”.

This community, as a forum for discussions related to literature and literacy, has also been regularly carrying out activities since May 2020. These activities are carried out in a hybrid manner, namely online every Friday at 20.00 P.M in Indonesia time via live Instagram @ngobrol.buku and offline once a month in public spaces so that it can attract the attention of more people.

As an effort to bring literature closer to society, it is hoped that this community will grow bigger, gain recognition from many circles and be able to produce many young generations of literature lovers and spread the beauty of Indonesian literature worldwide. In this way, the literacy rate in Indonesia, especially in the city of Medan is increasing.

Students from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) at the Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) embarked on a cultural visit to Gwangju, South Korea, aiming to strengthen bilateral relations through cultural exchange and explore potential collaborations in education.

This activity is part of the Sister City program between the City Government of Medan and the City Government of Gwangju.rnrnThe Sister City Program is an initiative between two cities from different countries or regions aimed at establishing official relationships to promote cultural, economic, and social exchanges. True to its name, Sister City is grounded in the similarities of two cities despite their geographical differences. The program has gained international recognition, especially in bilateral relations between countries, particularly in non-capital regions.rnrnThe City Government of Medan initiated Sister City collaborations in 1997 with several cities in different countries, including Gwangju (South Korea), Ichikawa (Japan), Chengdu (China), Georgetown, and Ipoh (Malaysia)rnrnTypically involving student exchanges, government official visits, economic collaborations, and joint cultural programs, the program aims to strengthen the relationship between two cities and allows their residents to learn and understand each other’s cultures.

In November 2023, the Medan City Government implemented the Sister City program to Gwangju, South Korea. The initiative included sending 12 students from four major universities in Medan.rnrnDuring the program, Medan students were accompanied by students from Gwangju, originating from Chungnam National University (CNU) and the Gwangju International Center (GIC), a non-governmental organization in Gwangju.rnrnThe student exchange activities also included panel discussions addressing relevant global and local issues. This provided an opportunity for both Medan and Gwangju students to understand cultural differences and worldviews, ultimately improving cross-cultural communication skills.

In terms of arts and culture, students from FISIP USU and CNU collaborated in organizing art exhibitions, traditional performances, and other cultural activities. This not only enriched the artistic experiences of both groups of students but also broadened the appreciation of arts and culture from each city. The active involvement of FISIP USU students in this Sister City program creates opportunities for learning and personal development. Through cultural exchanges, social experiences, and joint projects, students not only strengthen the relationship between Gwangju and Medan but also become ambassadors for peace and cross-cultural understanding. To further strengthen the established relationship, CNU students will visit Medan in February to learn about the local arts and culture. With a collaborative spirit, this program is expected to leave a positive impact in building bridges between two different cities, connected by the spirit of friendship and cooperation.

Senior Lecturer at the Social Anthropology Department, Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU), is currently developing indicators to assess the life quality of the elderly age group. These indicators will become the first assessment ever made to measure the population of eldery in the context of a developing country.

Dr. Nurman Achmad, S.Sos, M.Soc.Sc, who are the leader of this research, explained that the life quality of the elderly age group is crucial. Particularly, nowadays the trend of the number of elderly in Indonesia keeps increasing along with the improvement of life quality. However, the indicators applied tend to use the life quality standard from Western countries. “It is not reasonable to compare the life quality of the elderly age group from one culture to another”

He added, “In the research I have conducted among more than 500 participants, Indonesian elderly have a life quality reflected from the subjective assessment indicators towards their own happiness. Using the qualitative approach, it turns out that the Indonesian elderly live happily if they feel they have completed their duties raising their children, and they are even happier if they have had grandchildren. For them, the children’s independence makes them feel satisfied, and even if they have to live by themselves, they will be just fine. The Indonesian elderly are proud and feel successful because they have completed their life duties as parents”.

Nurman Achmad explained that “the ethnics in Indonesia have life stages and every stage provides the indicators of a life quality at the perception and spiritual satisfaction level. Of course, those things cannot be captured by quantitative indicators, especially if those do not use the reflection of the elderly as the objects of life quality assessment.”

“If we apply the indicators of the Western countries, the result is all of our elderly belong to the category of not having a good life quality because the present indicators being used measure a life quality more physically,” said Nurman Achmad. Meanwhile, the meaning of humans’ life quality tends to relate more with nonphysical matters. Moreover, the worse impact from such physical assessment measurement is that “by adopting the indicators from outside of our lives, we seem to under estimate the elderly life quality that has actually been recorded in the symbols, procession, and values of life of Indonesian people.”

“We will include the indicators of self happiness, self accomplishment, and satisfaction toward oneself, and even spiritual peace, which have been abandoned in the indicators of the elderly life quality,” said Nurman Achmad. Right now, those indicators are being developed to be tested later on at a much wider scale in Asia. Nurman Achmad is hoping that these indicators will someday obtain a wide recognition and become the contribution of social sciences from Universitas Sumatera Utara to the global academic world

Sexual violence in higher education institutions in Indonesia still happens very often. The perpetrators are lecturers and students themselves, and this is very much related to power relation imbalance and gender inequality. As a result, the female students, as the parties with the most inferior position so far in the patrilineal culture-oriented community, can only be silent and do nothing. This situation really puts them in a vulnerable position as the victims of sexual violence.

The existing data reveal that the number of reports filed to the Task Force of PPKS (Prevention and Handling of Sexual Violence) is very few. This means, the victims feel reluctant to report the incidents they have experienced.

So far what has become the problem is that many victims of sexual violence have experienced bad incidents without any precaution from their surrounding environment, despite the fact that sexual violence is an incident that can be prevented. Every student on campus will have friends or classmates having interaction with one another in many activities. Therefore, instead of waiting for the sexual violence victims to appear, early prevention or precaution must be carried out by those present in the area of incidents.

The Tim Fortune (Fortune Team) from the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, the Department of Social Anthropology, with the funding assistance from the Ministry of Education, Culture, and Research, and the support of Universitas Sumatera Utara (USU) has made an important breakthrough. The Tim Fortune has designed a training for student volunteers to play a role as the “interceptors” of sexual violence incidents. The students will be trained to be active and take initiatives when someone is experiencing sexual violence.

To ease the implementation of the prevention principles, Tim Fortune consisting of David Dodi Lumbantobing, Paula Hutriany Sigiro, Novi Fitriani Br Nazara, and Cecilia Angela Sitanggang has created a pictured comic. The comic entitled “Ayo Bela Teman Kita” (Let’s Defend Our Friends) uses the figures of themselves, also as students, who seem to have conversations to encourage other students to participate in preventing sexual violence occurring in higher education institutions.

The advisor of Tim Fortune, Dr. Fotarisman Zaluchu, stated that Tim Fortune has created amazing works of art. “The comic has been tried out in classes, and students become very interested in it. Every time the comic is tried out, students become willing to be volunteers and have stated their willingness by signing a form of commitment.”

Tim Fortune has asked students to accompany their friends or classmates that are requested to have discussion by someone including by their own lecturer. Besides that, students have to be courageous to reprimand someone who says something indecent and looks inappropriately at a girl who is their friend or classmate. Moreover, the most important thing is that students are asked to fight someone who would like to do actions having the tendency toward sexual violence. This program will be continued to train more and more students in a wider range.