University of West Bohemia Representative Visits UMN as a Guest Lecturer and Discusses Potential Collaboration

(Dok. Marketing Communications UMN)

TANGERANG – Mgr. Thomas Chochole, Ph.D., the Head of Interdisciplinary Cooperation for the Faculty of Design and Art (Ladislav Sutnar) at the University of West Bohemia, Czech, visited Multimedia Nusantara University (UMN) as a guest lecturer and also to discuss potential collaboration between the University of West Bohemia and UMN. The meeting was conducted offline at the UMN campus on Tuesday (07/03/2023). 

Several UMN representatives from the Faculty of Arts & Design were present to discuss potential collaboration ideas: Fonita Theresia Yoliando, S.Ds., M.A. (Visual Communication Design lecturer), Muhammad Cahya Mulya Daulay, S.Sn., M.Ds. (Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Design), and Yusup Sigit Martyastiadi (Visual Communication Design lecturer). 

The University of West Bohemia was founded in 1991 in Czech. According to their website, they have 9 faculties, 62 departments, and 130 study programs with 11 thousand students.

Opening the discussion, Thomas explained the meaning behind “Ladislav Sutnar,” the University of Bohemia’s Arts & Design faculty name. Ladislav Sutnar was a famous artist and designer born at the beginning of the 20th century in the Czech Republic in Plzeň.

“He then moved to the United States before the 2nd war and stayed there until the end of his life. Our faculties still have a relationship with his family living in the United States. That’s the reason why we can carry the name of the designer. We also take care of his outwork, providing us with plenty of pictures, designer work, and archives pieces,” Thomas said.

Thomas then proceeded to share some of the Arts & Design students’ portfolios. Incredible, the projects done by the students don’t only stop on campus but also directly contribute to society. From designing bus stops for the city’s government to collaborating with an international university to find innovative equipment and prosthetics for disabled people.

(Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

“The projects are sometimes, as you said, only comes from the lecturers to the students, but we prefer to have real projects that the solution found can be used in a real situation,” Thomas said.

UMN, too is going to pursue an interdisciplinary approach. “We also have some collaborations with the government, industry, and other universities. That’s why I think from what you’ve presented, it encouraged us to pursue that approach,” Fonita said, responding to Thomas’ presentation. She also continued to show UMN Visual Communication Design students’ portfolios.

After the presentation from both sides, the brainstorming starts. As the University of West Bohemia and UMN actively encourage students to do various projects and collaborate with various industries, there are many ideas for collaborations that can be done that can make a real impact.

“We are keen to move into the community, outreach with the community, and figure out how we (the entire Arts & Design faculty) could try to solve problems. In addition, we are looking forward for international qualification so we are doing lots of collaboration with international universities. We hope that we could collaborate with your university too by doing joint research or lectures,” Cahya said.  

(Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

The goal for both universities is to collaborate and create an impact not only academically but also to the society.

As both universities have experience and interest in disability topics, Fonita mentioned that both universities could collaborate on this. Fonita shared that UMN has a research team of four to five lecturers and ten students. The team tries to create games and digital modules for people with mental disabilities.

“I think it can be a new field that we can try to explore, as we usually just focus on physical disabilities. I think we could collaborate to realize the idea,” Fonita suggested. She also mentioned that she would like the partnership to be a friendly collaboration, not just focusing on business.

“We don’t want to do business here,” Fonita added.

(Doc. Marketing Communications UMN)

Various ideas were poured from student exchanges, joint exhibitions, joint research, and joint lectures. In addition to the discussion, Thomas also conducted a guest lecture with UMN students. 

We hope to see soon all the collaboration ideas come to life! 

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