Unhas’s Faculty of Engineering Hosts the EICSE 2020 International Conference
The Faculty of Engineering (FT) at Hasanuddin University once again hosted an international conference titled “The 4th EPI International Conference on Science and Engineering (EICSE).” This year’s conference focused on the theme “Strengthening UIG-based Research Collaboration and Innovation in Adapting to the Pandemic and the Era of Disruption.”
The event took place starting at 9:30 a.m. WITA virtually via the Zoom platform on Tuesday (October 6).
Speakers included Prof. Ir. Nizam, M.Sc., DIC., Ph.D. (Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture), Prof. Rudi Djamaluddin, M.Eng. (Acting Mayor of Makassar), Prof. Yoshihiro Narita (Hokkaido University, Japan), Prof. Hirofumi Hinata (Ehime University, Japan), Prof. Robert De Souza (National University of Singapore), and Dr. Muqtada Ali Khan (University of Malaysia Kelantan).
To kick off the event, Dr. Eng. Faisal Mahmuddin, ST., M.Eng., explained that the conference is an annual event organized by the Center of Technology (COT) at the Faculty of Engineering, Unhas, and forms part of the Faculty of Engineering’s anniversary celebrations. This year, in addition to accepting papers, the organizing committee also featured innovation videos and several activities supporting the conference.
“For this year’s conference, we once again received hundreds of papers from participants, which will be evaluated and published in a Scopus-indexed journal. Although it is a virtual event, we appreciate the enthusiasm of the participants who joined the event,” explained Faisal.
On the same occasion, the Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Unhas, Prof. Dr. Ir. Muhammad Arsyad Thaha, MT., expressed his gratitude to the speakers for their willingness to share their knowledge and experience. The conference, with its diverse range of topics, is expected to increase the participation of faculty members and researchers in advancing research.
“This conference is a great opportunity to present and publish research findings. Participants have the chance to prepare manuscripts for submission to Scopus-indexed international journals,” explained Prof. Arsyad.
The event was officially opened by the Vice Rector for Research and Innovation at Unhas, Prof. dr. Muh. Nasrum Massi, Sp.MK, Ph.D. In his remarks, he briefly outlined Unhas’s achievements in the university clustering initiative, noting that Unhas has improved its ranking to seventh in Indonesia. In addition, he also discussed Unhas’s goal of becoming a World Class University (WCU).
“There are many indicators for WCU status; we hope this event will boost the academic reputation and international ratio of the faculties. We hope initiatives like this will continue, particularly in developing collaborative research aligned with the topics discussed,” explained Prof. Nasrum.
Following the official opening, the event continued with presentations from the featured speakers.
Prof. Ir. Nizam, M.Sc., DIC., Ph.D. (Director General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture), as one of the speakers, explained in his presentation that universities are expected to collaborate with industry, government, and the community to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by preparing high-quality human resources.
“To support high-quality human resources, improving the relevance and quality of education—such as engineering education—requires sound methods and preparation to meet the challenges of today and the future. Therefore, strengthening the penta-helix professional education system is needed as an ecosystem for future development,” said Nizam.
According to the predetermined schedule, the EICSE conference is set to run through Wednesday (October 7) with several agenda items already prepared.