Bouakeo Phanthanouvong, known as Keo, is an exchange student from Thai Nguyen University of Agriculture and Forestry in Vietnam, majoring in Environmental Science and Management. Currently, he is undertaking a six-month exchange program, named Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) at the Faculty of Agriculture Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Indonesia. Keo chose this program upon recommendations from lecturers and friends, who highlighted UGM’s status as one of the top universities in Indonesia. He was encouraged to gain new experiences, expand his knowledge, and going through a transformative journey by studying at a renowned institution.
Faculty of Agriculture UGM
Indonesia is one of the largest countries in the world in agricultural production. At a time when the average temperature is rising worldwide due to global warming, agricultural technology in Indonesia, a tropical climate, will become very important. Therefore, Jisoo Park, a student from The Department of Horticulture, Gyeongsang National University, South Korea wanted to experience studies at Universitas Gadjah Mada as it thought it had abundant insights and experience in tropical agriculture and sustainable agriculture.
From the University of the Philippines, Madi, or Madelene Arcilla, is a BS Biology major in Zoology student that took upon Agronomy during her study in Faculty of Agriculture Universitas Gadjah Mada, Indonesia. She began her semester in August of 2024 until December 2024. She explained, the students at the University of the Philippines are taught how to emerge in excellence, which is not only about how high one’s GPA is, but also reflected by how someone perceives the world and how they act upon those perceptions. In short, how one upholds honor. This is why Madi joined Asian International Mobility for Students (AIMS) program. She believes that learning cultural diversity is a step in a better understanding of people and society. Furthermore, to have the experience of putting herself in a very much different environment than she had growing up would help her growth for independence, individual skills, social skills, and most of all, a better understanding of various aspects of life such as self, education, race, and society.