Bridging Soft Skill Course for even semester of academic year 2017/2018 has been conducted. Bridging soft skill is a compulsory midterm activity for all students of English Language Education Department (ELED) of UMY. The event aims at improving students’ soft skills. If any student cannot participate this semester Bridging Soft Skill Course, they should make up their absence by joining the course in the following year with their juniors’ batch. This biannual activity is carried out in every mid-semester break.

In this semester, Bridging Softskill Course was held on April 17 to April 20, 2018 at Merapi Farma Herbal Kaliurang KM 21.5 Pakem, Sleman. Merapi Farma Herbal is a tourism place that provides a beautiful natural panorama combined with fresh air typical of Merapi area. The participants of this event include 118 students of batch 2015, 96 students of batch 2016 and 217 students of batch 2017.
The activities undertaken for Bridging Soft Skill Course this year are not much different from the previous years. On the first day, students joined lectures about soft skill development and on the second day students do out bond activities to develop their soft skills. The theme for batch 2017 is creativity, for batch 2015 leadership, and for batch 2016 is teamwork.

One student of batch 2015, Aisha Ganesh Ratnasari, mentioned, “Bridging soft skill course this semester is the last bridging for students of batch 2015. It is very exciting and making me. However, I also feel a bit sad because the next year, as a senior, I will not need to join Bridging anymore. I will miss this event and the togetherness with my batch mates.” Head of English Language Education Department, Sri Rejeki Murtiningsih, Ph.D., shared her hope, “I hope that this Bridging Softskill course could help developing students’ soft skills in a fun way during the mid-term break. Additionally, while their academic performance is important for their future career, their soft skills are what will bring them ahead in their life and career. Therefore, our department is committed develop their soft skills in each semester during their first three years in this department.”
(heri/puput)