The ITERA Food Technology Study Program explored cooperation with the Lampung Agricultural Training Center on Friday (1/10/2021). This activity was carried out as a follow-up to the planned cooperation between Sumatra Institute of Technology (ITERA) and the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Indonesia and the Lampung Agricultural Training Center (BPP Lampung), its regional unit for the southern Sumatra area. BPP Lampung’s duty is to conduct technical, functional, and entrepreneurship training in lowland food crops and horticulture for agricultural apparatus and non-apparatus, with a working area covering 4 (four) provinces, namely Lampung, South Sumatra, Bangka Belitung, and Bengkulu. In carrying out its duties, it is accountable to the Head of the Agency for Agricultural Extension and Human Resource Development and is technically supervised by the Head of the Agricultural Training Center.
The ITERA Food Technology visit was welcomed by Feri Setyawan, S.P, M.M, Sub-Coordinator of Programs and Evaluation at BPP Lampung. He said that “Collaboration between BPP Lampung and the ITERA Food Technology Study Program is very important in raising the competitiveness standards of students, especially in increasing competent entrepreneurship in agricultural products that can create new jobs when they return to their home regions.” BPP Lampung has several programs that can support students’ activities in achieving these competencies, such as practical work (KP), internships under Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM), and guest lectures by practitioners and inspiring farmers.
Amalia Wahyuningtyas, S.Si, M.Sc, Coordinator of the ITERA Food Technology Study Program, who also attended today’s visit, considered this cooperation an opportunity for various collaborative activities such as research and community service that can be facilitated by lecturers and students. “Collaboration between educational institutions and government institutions is very important in supporting Merdeka Belajar Kampus Merdeka (MBKM) activities and the achievement of the Key Performance Indicators (IKU) of the Study Program and the University.
This visit is expected to be a strategic step in drafting the cooperation agreement and follow-up program plans, such as guest lectures in several relevant courses, such as plantation product food technology II: coffee, tea, and cocoa, the starch technology course, and the sugar technology course. This visit is also one of the study program’s steps in preparing MBKM internship activities for ITERA food technology students.ker
