SEMARANG – The Chancellor of Diponegoro University (UNDIP), Prof. Dr. Yos Johan Utama SH MHum, said Undip will not yet conduct face-to-face or offline lectures in the odd semester of the 2021/2022 Academic Year (TA). This is in view of the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic, which still needs to be watched out for.
This affirmation was conveyed by the Undip Chancellor when giving a speech at the inauguration of 3 professors at the Prof. Soedarto SH Building, Tembalang, Semarang City, Monday (31/5/2021). ”Untuk semester depan Undip belum akan melaksanakan kuliah luring, masih daring (For the next semester, Undip will not carry out offline lectures, it is still online)” said Prof Yos Johan.
Many things are taken into consideration so that the Diponegoro University Campus still has to implement online lectures. Among them are related to the large number of students, the number of teaching hours by lecturers which is multiplied if conducted offline or face-to-face, to the consideration of students who must be in boarding houses if offline lectures are carried out.
He stated that the current number of Undip students reached 55 thousand, the number he described was the same as the population in a district outside Java. “Kami bisa menjaga di sini. Di sini bisa diatur. Tapi bagaimana mahasiswa yang ada di kos-kosan, kami harus hati-hati (We can guard here. The problem isn’t here. But what about students in boarding houses? we have to be careful)” he said.
The Chancellor explained various things if you had to do lectures offline. The teaching burden of lecturers will increase threefold, because during the pandemic period there must be restrictions on the number of students who may be in the classroom. Each class must be divided into three parts. That is, the meeting held by the lecturer, who usually teaches ten times, will teach 30 times.
Considering this, Prof Yos Johan is worried that lecturers will experience extreme fatigue if offline lectures are forced. “Saya khawatir, bukan apa-apa kena Covid, tetapi karena kelelahan beliau para dosen juga bisa terjangkit atau terpapar Covid-19 (I’m worried, it’s not only because of The Covid, but also because of his fatigue the lecturers can also be infected or exposed to Covid-19)“
Another thing to consider is the condition of students from outside Semarang who must be in a boarding house, which could be one room filled with three students. Limited space for activities, including eating together and other activities, can make them vulnerable to contracting Covid-19. Therefore, Undip ensures that offline lectures will not be held in the odd semester of the 2021/2022 academic year, which usually starts in July every year.
So that the online learning process can be maximized, various facilities ranging from websites, emails, community forums and other information technology facilities are maximized to support learning called online asynchronous, which is a method that allows program participants to do learning other than at a predetermined time. This method aims to maintain the quality of the education held.
Therefore, university leaders make efforts so that the best decisions can be obtained in dealing with the current pandemic period. “Kami melakukan kajian matang terlebih dahulu dan ikhtiar. Untuk semester depan Undip masih belum melakukan perkuliahan secara luring,(We did a thorough study first and made an effort. For the next semester, Undip still hasn’t conducted offline lectures)” he said. (public relations team) (www.undip.ac.id)