UMN Signs a Memorandum of Understanding with ASWARA

Multimedia Nusantara University signs an MoU with ASWARA Academy at the UMN campus. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

TANGERANG – In pursuit of broadening its connection with various institutions in higher education, Multimedia Nusantara University (UMN) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Academy of Cultural Arts and National Heritage (Akademi Seni Budaya dan Warisan Kebangsaan/ASWARA Academy), Malaysia, at the UMN campus on Tuesday (07/03/2023). 

The signing was attended by various UMN and ASWARA representatives. From UMN: Dr. Ninok Leksono, M.A (Chancellor), Prof. Dr. Muliawati G. Siswanto, M.Eng.Sc. (Vice Chancellor for Relations and Cooperation), Ir. Andrey Andoko, M.Sc. (Vice Chancellor for General and Financial Affairs), Friska Natalia, S.Kom., M.T., Ph.D. (Vice Chancellor for Academics), Boby Arinto, S.E., M.M. (Global Office Manager), Muhammad Cahya Mulya Daulay, S.Sn., M.Ds. (Dean Faculty of Arts & Design), and Fonita Theresia Yoliando, S.Ds. (Visual Communication Design Lecturer).

From ASWARA: Prof. Madya. Ts. Dr. Ruslan Bin Abdul Rahim (Rector, National Academy of Arts Culture and Heritage, Ministry of Tourism and Culture, Malaysia), Prof. Madya. Ts. Dr. Khairul Azril Bin Ismail (Acting Rector for Academic Affairs), Encik Ramlan Bin Mohd Imam (Director of Innovation, Strategic Networking, and Marketing Section), and Encik Amirudin Bin Mad Yusof (Registrar).

“We are so happy to welcome you, and we are delighted to have more friends. I’ve often said, ‘1000 friends is not enough, but when it’s enemies, it’s too many’,” Ninok said, bringing laughter to the room.

“Thank you for your visit. Hopefully one day, we will be able to return your visit to Kuala Lumpur,” Ninok said, closing his opening statement. 

ASWARA is no stranger to UMN. Fonita, a UMN VCD lecturer, was Khairul’s student when she took her Master’s degree years ago. Khairul also shared how Fonita left a great impression.

“The attitude, the mannerism, pretty good. It gave me a wonderful impression of UMN. The actions of humanity, the willingness to empathize since she worked on the project of dyslexia,” Khairul said. 

Group photo of UMN and ASWARA representatives. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

ASWARA Akademy was previously “Akademi Seni Kebangsaan” (National Academy of Arts), established in 1994 under the Ministry of Culture, Arts and Pelancongan Malaysia. They changed their name to ASWARA on August 1, 2006.

According to their site, ASWARA is the only institution of higher learning in the field of offering that is fully endorsed by the Kingdom of Malaysia under the Ministry of Perpaduan, Culture, Kesenian, and Warisan Malaysia. 

It is a higher learning institution that provides a space for learning, research, and academic publishing, as well as professional advice in the field of arts and culture, and heritage. 

They aim to produce skilled artists and authoritative employees in their fields and strengthen the continuity of the country’s artistic heritage. In principle, ASWARA focuses on arts education to produce knowledgeable and professional “performers” to fill the country’s arts industry.

“ASWARA traditionally is in Malaysia and also in the region known for its very strong tradition and history in performing arts. ASWARA is an educational entity to look into our heritage in Malaysia, that’s why our subjects are all very much geared towards that,” Ruslan said.

Ruslan also shared his and his team’s aim for visiting UMN. He explained that ASWARA is in the process of digitization and internationalization, aiming to digitally introduce Malaysian culture to the world. 

ASWARA representatives. (Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

Ruslan gave an interesting example of how they’ve been incorporating the digital realm and arts to promote their culture. Recently about two months ago, the Faculty of Animation and Multimedia worked with one of ASWARA’s Traditional Performing Arts Center, “Pusat Seni Pentas Tradisional (PuTRA).” 

Through PuTRA, Ruslan shared that they introduced a teaching element and taught the traditional dance and hand movements of Mayo (Malaysian traditional dance), but through the metaverse. In concept, the Adi Guru (what ASWARA calls their teachers) will transfer their movements to an avatar created, and students can then easily learn from the avatar.

“This is our early initiative experiments which we hope to carry further when we work together with UMN. I think this is something we can look into. One of our long term aspiration is to create a digital archive to store all 3D movement files of the tradiional dance in the region, starting from Malaysia– because our Adi Guru is not going to live forever,” Ruslan explained.

They would like to share it with the world through their digital archives. All the motion data will be stored as an archive for reference, and the world can retrieve it and mask it with their own respective countries’ traditional costumes.

He also mentioned the worry about AI replacing humans. He said that AI would never replace humans. What we can do is make AI work for us.

(Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

There were plenty of ideas poured by each representative during the meeting. Friska suggested both campuses conduct lecture exchanges, joint research, and the mobility program.

“I saw on ASWARA’s website that the Faculty of Arts and Design conducted plenty of exhibitions. So maybe, we can also conduct some collaborations on exhibitions nationally and internationally,” Friska shared. 

One interesting system or program that ASWARA representatives mentioned that intrigued UMN representatives is the “Non-Traditional Research Output” (NTRO). Many universities in various countries have implemented and acknowledged this, like The University of Melbourne, Australia. 

Khairul explained that ASWARA is working on the policies of NTRO, which means understanding the definition of publications. Generally, a paper is the most common form of publication. But with NTRO, exhibitions can also be categorized as a publication, especially for arts and design academics.

According to Curtin University and The University of Melbourne, NTRO is any output than an article, paper, or book that can make noteworthy contributions. NTRO can be plays, music performances, or models of buildings. They also take the form of research reports for the government (influencing policy, for example) or exhibitions. They span the full range of ways in which humans explore and communicate knowledge.

Those NTROs are not typically published in the conventional sense and can be difficult to find via library catalogs, databases, or Google Scholar. However, they play an important role in advancing knowledge and can demonstrate the impact of a university or research center’s work.

“The Art graduates in Malaysia have an average of 75 to 80,000 graduates yearly. You can’t miss out on the opportunity how to measure the outputs coming from them,” Khairul said.

Intrigued and excited by NTRO, Friska mentioned that UMN would like to learn more about NTRO. “In our faculty, there’s a lot of exhibitions in the film department. Also, in our government, the mechanism (like NTRO) is not yet established. Maybe we can try to learn,” Friska said.

(Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

With both campuses having an active Arts and Design faculty, there are plenty of incredible potential collaboration ideas from lecture exchanges, joint research, joint exhibitions, and many more! More discussions and meetings will be conducted to perfect the ideas and finally go through with the plans.

Closing the meeting, Ninok proposed a fun idea, a joint concert. 

“I’m ready to sing,” Ninok said, painting smiles and laughter to everyone’s faces.

We’re excited to see UMN and ASWARA’s ideas come to life!

By Levina Chrestella Theodora

English translation by Levina Chrestella Theodora

Kuliah di Jakarta untuk jurusan program studi Informatika| Sistem Informasi | Teknik Komputer | Teknik Elektro | Teknik Fisika | Akuntansi | Manajemen| Komunikasi Strategis | Jurnalistik | Desain Komunikasi Visual | Film dan Animasi | Arsitektur | D3 Perhotelan , di Universitas Multimedia Nusantara. www.umn.ac.id