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“Global Transportation and Mobility : Attempting for a Better Living”

Background of the Conference[1]

Recently higher education’s interest in internationalization has intensified. This movement makes majority universities attempt to be a world class university. Universitas Katolik Parahyangan (Unpar) is started to strengthen its process to internationalization. Many activities conducted by Unpar are actions dedicated for global community. Consequently, Unpar has to be aware that the concept of civic education or engagement has broadened from a national focus to a more global one. Unpar also has to realize that civic responsibility extends beyond national borders. This recent trend builds responsibility of Unpar as an institution for higher education, to play a role to increase awareness of the youth to cope with global issues or global problems. This comprehension makes Unpar considering that every people must be a global citizen. Global Citizenship is a concept that is recently popular and respected important. Even though the concept is not a new one, it currently has been widely used by higher education activities or researches. Unpar as an institution for higher education, has accountability to promote and prepare students to contribute positively to the global community. What does it mean? The meaning of global citizenship will be described as following:[2]

  1. It is a choice and a way of thinking, in which a national citizen decides to engage in global issues or with different cultures in a local setting.
  2. It is a self-awareness and awareness of others, in which a national citizen will build his own self-awareness, to enable him to identify with the universalities of the human experience, thus increasing his identification with fellow human beings and his sense of responsibility toward him.
  3. It is a practice of cultural empathy, by which a national citizen sees questions from multiple perspectives and move deftly among cultures—sometimes navigating his own multiple cultural identities, sometimes moving out to experience unfamiliar cultures.
  4. It is a cultivation of principled decision-making, which entails an awareness of the interdependence of individuals & systems and a sense of responsibility that follows from it.
  5. It is a participation in the social and political life of one’s community, through which a national citizen feels a connection to his communities and translates that sense of connection into participation.

These descriptions of global citizenship are the set attitudes that Unpar finds important to be implanted to all young people, to create their sense of responsibility that they are not only national citizens, but they are global citizens, who are responsible to cope with not only local issues, but also global problems.

Recently the world is quickly developed. It happened because of advance growth of information and transportation, which have supported global economic expansion. In this era, sustainable transport and mobility have key parts to play in fostering inclusive growth, expanding access to essential mobility of goods & services. Mobility involves more than traveling from one place to another as fast as possible using technology and transportation systems. Mobility is central to what it is to be human. It is a fundamental geographic facet of existence.[3] Efficient and sustainable mobility can improve and boost the economy and quality of life of the community. Using renewable energy to support public and private transportation will support the existence of sustainable economic development. Good quality of transportation with low level of carbon emission, will conserve good quality of the air. Efficient public transportation system will encourage community members to decrease the intensive use of their personal vehicles. It will decrease fuels consumption. Efficient mobility in cities creates economic opportunities, enables trade, facilitates access to markets and services and makes efficient use of resources. As public transport forms the backbone of any efficient urban mobility system, adequate public transport provision helps make cities more dynamic and competitive as well as create more jobs.[4] By considering those important roles of efficient transportation and mobility, it is clear that these issues must be examined intensively.

Unpar concerns to provide a platform for thinking and discussing this issue, by involving many youths to share their thoughts about how we should provide safe, clean, efficient, and inclusive mobility—everywhere, for everyone. Therefore, in 2019 Unpar humbly presents a piece of contribution to develop the awareness of youngsters as global citizens by conducting an International Student Conference annually, under the title ‘Global Citizenship’. The main topic of 2019 International Student Conference is “Global Transportation and Mobility: Attempting for a Better Living”

Name of the Event

The name of this event is “INTERNATIONAL STUDENT CONFERENCE 2019 ON GLOBAL CITIZENSHIP. Theme: “GLOBAL TRANSPORTATION AND MOBILITY: Attempting for a Better Living”.

Scope of the Event

This event will gather university students from Indonesia as well as international students from all over the world. The committee expects to gather total of 120 students consist of 60 Indonesian students and 60 international students. All of the participants will learn in series of lectures, express their feelings and share their thoughts in site visits, and also introduced to Indonesian cultures. The conference will involve professors, both international and local students, bureaucrats, practitioners, government organization and NGOs.

Objectives of the Event

The objectives of this event are:

  1. To raise awareness of the students, to provide forum for knowledge and experience sharing, and to broaden students’ perspectives in seeing the link between transportation & mobility and its impact to economic & quality of life development.
  2. To enhance the soft skills of the participants as well as exposing them of diversity of cultures of the participants to bridge dialogues and build tolerance among participants.
  3. To promote Indonesian’s culture and tourism.
  4. To provides the platform of internationalization for Unpar’s students, in order to broaden their perspective about global issues around the world.
  5. To promote Unpar as a good university destination for a student exchange program.

The program will be divided into 7 components :

A. Key Lectures :

  • Good Quality Public Transportation and Its Role to Eradicate Global Poverty
  • The Roles of Big Data to Support Efficient Transportation and Mobility

B. Workshops :

  • Supply Chain and Efficient Economic Development
  • Labour Migration and Skilled Workers Mobility
  • Clean Transportation and Environment, Accessibility and Economic Opportunity
  • Inclusive and User Friendly Transportation

C. Site Visits :

  • Mass Rapid Transportation Project (Jakarta)
  • Traffic Monitoring Center (Bandung)
  • Logistic Hub (Tanjung Priok – Jakarta)

D. Cultural Site Visit :

  • Monumen National
  • Taman Mini Indonesia Indah

E. Cultural Activities :

  • Playing traditional games
  • Learning batik drawing
  • Learning traditional dancing
  • Making traditional handicraft

F. Experiential Learning :

  • Team work problem solving activity in a game

G. Final Project :

  • Designing a project related to the theme and drafting a Project Proposal

LOCATION :

Bandung – Jakarta, Indonesia

DATE :

11 – 18 January 2019

SCHEDULE (To be confirmed)

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE IN THE PROGRAM AND HOW?

The conference is offered to Unpar students and any international student who has strong motivation to improve his/her knowledge related to the theme. It is basically for both undergraduate and post graduate students from any major of studies. To participate in this program, candidates must submit online application for further selection process.

 QUALIFICATION OF THE PARTICIPANTS

For International Participants:

  1. Bachelor degree students, at least from the 3rd semester; Master degree students and doctoral degree students from every study background,
  2. Being supported to participate by the home university (proven by a Support Letter from any authority at the home university)

For Local Participants (UNPAR Students only) :

  1. Minimum GPA of the Even Semester 2017-2018: 2.50
  2. Open for students from every study program;
  3. Fluent English proficiency.

REGISTRATION FEE

The registration fee for the conference is $250 (For International Participant ONLY). Please do the payment after receiving confirmation admission from the committee.

WHAT WE PROVIDE FOR PARTICIPANTS

For the admitted participants, the committee will provide:

  • A pick up and drop off service (only at the designated schedule)
  • 2 sharing based accommodation
  • Entry tickets and participation fee of the compulsory site visits and cultural activities
  • Inland transportation of the compulsory programs
  • Meals (as it will be indicated at the schedule)
  • Welcome and Closing Receptions (dinner)
  • Certificate of Attendance and Certificate Supplement (indicating that all activities are equal as 3 credits academic activities. These documents will be granted only for Participants who participate fully in the whole program

REGISTRATION DATE:

For International Participants : BATCH 2 up to 1 December 2018

For Local Participant : BATCH 2 up to 30 October 2018

 

Contact Person :

Chris Stephany (isc_io@unpar.ac.id)

[1]        Some parts of this Proposal have been taken from the previous Proposal of the first International Student Conference 2013 on Global Citizenship.

[2]       This part is summarized from Madeleine F. Green (a Senior Fellow at NAFSA and the International Association of Universities), Global Citizenship – What Are We Talking About and Why Does It Matter? This paper is available online at: Inside Higher Ed, http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/globalhighered/global-citizenship-%E2%80%93- what-are-we-talking-about-and-why-does-it-matter#ixzz29dkHykdO

[3]        Fristedt, Sofi, Occupational Participation through Community Mobility among Older Men and Women. School of Health Services, Jonkoping University, 2012, Preface.

[4]        Union Internationale des Transports Publics [International Association of Public Transport], Monthly Focus: The Economic Impact of Public Transport. Online: http://www.uitp.org/news/monthly-focus-economic-impact-public-transport, last accessed: 21 August 2018, at 21.30.

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