PBI UMY held a bridging course for its students. As a student, the learning process in the classroom is not enough to become a qualified and capable student in the current era. Therefore, the need to improve soft skills for students is a necessity at this time. In response, PBI UMY held a bridging course on three consecutive days from Monday, November 15, 2021, to Wednesday, November 17, 2021. The first day of the bridging course was intended for PBI UMY students’ batch 2019 with the selected theme “Leadership.”  Furthermore, all bridging courses will be held online through the Zoom platform and live broadcast on PBI UMY’s official YouTube account. The first day of the bridging course started at 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.

On this first day of the bridging course, PBI UMY invited two speakers and one PBI UMY alumni who had successfully pursued a career in the field of language. The guest stars on the first day were Ahmad Maududy Amri, Ph.D., an Indonesian republic diplomat for the United Nations, Faris Al-Fadhat, Ph.D., Vice-rector for student affairs of UMY, and Nugroho Mukti Riyadi, S.Pd, PBI UMY alumni and founder of Beribahasa.  This event began with a speech from the dean of the faculty of language education UMY, Eko Purwanti, Ph.D. Eko hopes that this activity can raise the spirit of PBI UMY students, especially in terms of leadership.

The first session was a conversation with Ahmad Almaududy Amri, Ph.D. In his session, Duddy, his close call was accompanied by one of PBI UMY lecturers, Endro Dwi Hatmanto, Ph.D. Duddy shared some of his stories about his obligations as a diplomat representing the Indonesian government at the United Nations headquarters in New York, United States. Dudy defines leadership as a way of leading others with maturity and preparation so that all goals can be adequately achieved. “A leader starts from ‘you.’ In other words, you should be able to maintain yourself. If you can control your surroundings, then you can lead others,” Added Dudy.

The second session was a talk with Faris Al-Fadhat, Ph.D., and moderated by one of PBI UMY lecturers, Sri Rejeki Murtiningsih, Ph.D. Faris said that a leader must have a vision and a mission. A person will be chosen to be the leader if that person has firmness in the vision. “Everyone can be a ‘chief,’ but not everyone can be a ‘leader.’ Therefore, you should be aware of your surroundings so that you can see what is wrong and what your vision is to do that,” Added Faris. Besides, Faris also mentioned attitude where we as a leader should show a good attitude.

At the alumni session, Nugroho – the founder of ‘Beribahasa’ – conveyed several points about his experience and shared about PBI UMY. He also shared his story of surviving as an English student, what we can do as an English student, and how he started “Beribahasa.” Hopefully, PBI UMY students can be good students with a strong sense of leadership from this bridging course. Consequently, PBI UMY alumnus will be noticeable as a great part of society. (Mil)