New Dean Of Fisip UI Believes Socio-Political Research Has A Good Chance In The 2024 Election

Prof. Dr. Drs. Semiarto Aji Purwanto, M.Si (Photo via UI)

JAKARTA - FISIP UI has a new leader. Prof. Dr. Drs. Semiarto Aji Purwanto, M.Sc. has just been elected as the Dean of the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Indonesia (FISIP UI) for the period 2021 – 2025.

This FISIP UI professor who is familiarly called Aji was chosen thanks to his presentation entitled “Building a campus that is superior, prosperous, and dignified. According to him, in carrying the name of a pluralistic Indonesia, FISIP UI should put forward the image of a campus that is nationalist, moderate, tolerant, and inclusive.

"This idea can be achieved if we work hard to make it happen, among others, by transforming UI -which is a State University Legal Entity- to become more oriented towards Entrepreneurial University. Therefore, it requires us to do more networking, have an international perspective, and show research towards consumers (industry)," said Aji as quoted from the official UI website, Wednesday, November 17.

Aji conveyed his general assessment of the current condition of UI and FISIP UI. From the academic field, UI's ranking is superior at the national level based on the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, but in Southeast Asia, UI's ranking is still far from the top 10.

The ranking is determined by citations and publications which are weaknesses, which are caused in terms of the quality and quantity of lecturers. However, according to him, FISIP UI is supported by good lecture infrastructure, facilities, and infrastructure, namely adequate lecture buildings, and some rooms are not used optimally. He will also increase non-BP income by 40% during the next four years of his leadership.

All of these programs, according to him, are derivatives of UI's vision and mission which he is trying to understand and try to harmonize to become a center of excellence in Southeast Asia, as well as to become a more independent university, namely as an Entrepreneurial University.

Knowledge products are the main program for FISIP UI. He explained that FISIP UI has human resources, namely lecturers, researchers, and students who are qualified in conducting social research. He plans to submit research to the main users, namely industry and related state institutions.

Furthermore, Aji explained that there are three situations in the future that will make socio-political research very necessary. First, the succession of national leadership, namely the 2024 election, political campaigns for presidential candidates, governor candidates, legislative candidates that require socio-political data and analysis.

He considered this a very open market opportunity. Aji will encourage FISIP UI colleagues to be more aggressive in taking this opportunity, among others, by creating clusters according to each theme.

Semiarto Aji Purwanto is a professor of Anthropology, FISIP UI. Currently, he serves as Chair of the Anthropology Graduate Program. Aji earned his doctorate in anthropology from UI in 2010, his research and interests include environmental studies (forestry, mining, agriculture), ethnicity, health, and the use of information technology.

In addition, Aji plays many roles as a facilitator in the advocacy process or community-based management program planning as well as social impact studies. He received several awards and scholarships, including from the Nippon Foundation for a one-year research on urban agriculture in the Philippines, 2008-2009; ASEAN fellowship at the National University of Singapore 2007; and the Australian Leadership Award at Monash University, Melbourne, Australia 2012; and finally, in 2020, a Taiwan Fellowship for research on cultural policy in Taiwan.