THE INVESTMENT THROUGH STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM

Nowadays, the globalization issue is growing fast inside every sector. This condition forces us to open wider social intercourse. Intercourse here is in several aspects, such as education, culture, and technology. Although globalization looks harmful, in fact we still can find some benefits from it. One of the benefits is that a way to build a diplomatic relation. Diplomacy is not merely in politics; diplomacy also can be built in culture called cultural diplomacy or soft power. Culture can be an effective diplomatic media to build international relations because culture is universal and has universal values which are owned by every culture. Usually, cultural diplomacy is created by educational institutions such as schools and universities through student exchange programs.

There are some steps that should be completed before this program is officially done. For instance, Ahmad Dahlan University (UAD) wants to create cooperation with foreign universities. First, UAD must find and determine the university which is suitable to be the partner by defining the criteria of the university which is looked for. It is necessary to be done to know which university that has the same view with UAD. Then, we also need to collect the data about foreign universities. The collecting data process can be done by visiting the website of that university. After determining which university that will be a partner, the first communication should be built well. If the communication has been created, actually we’ve opened the gate of cooperation. To strengthen our relation and to make them sure, we have to present our vision and mission and show the mutual benefit that exists in this relation. Signing MoU is also important to make this cooperation stronger.

We need to show them that this program brings many benefits for many parties. For the students, they will add their experience in interacting with people from others countries, learning new culture, language and educational system there. Through this interaction, the students can learn to communicate, appreciate and love each other although they are different in many things. We hope that from this program, there will grow the leaders in the future that admire the differences and highly uphold the peace and friendship. This program can also promote our potential cultures and tourist destination. Therefore, student exchange program is beneficial for many parties such as for the student, the university, and for the country.

Dina Mardliani (10004190)

English Education Study program

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education

Ahmad Dahlan University