Minister of Research, Technology and Higher Education of the Republic of Indonesia, H. Mohamad Nasir, Ph.D., Ak., appreciates the private sector’s initiatives in supporting the government to improve the quality of higher education. This was expressed by Mohamad Nasir when witnessing the signing of the Tanoto Foundation scholarship agreement in Jakarta, October 20, 2017.

“Tanoto Foundation’s scholarship constitutes good cooperation between the government and private institutions in the field of higher education in order to produce young generation of people who are able to compete in the world stage. The Tanoto Foundation scholarship is also a form of youth support as a demographic bonus in an effort to build a more advanced Indonesia, “said Mohamad Nasir.

Meanwhile, a member of Tanoto Foundation’s Board of Trustee, Belinda Tanoto, said that the scholarship program is also a form of Tanoto Foundation’s support to develop Indonesia’s future leaders.

“Education is the key in breaking the intergenerational poverty chain. Good education will also produce good leaders. Taking part in developing Indonesia’s future leaders is a mandate of the founders of Tanoto Foundation, Mr. Sukanto Tanoto and Mrs. Tinah Bingei Tanoto. One of the efforts is through a scholarship program, “said Belinda Tanoto.

To run this scholarship program, Tanoto Foundation partners with 35 public and private universities in Indonesia. To date more than 3,200 university students have received Tanoto Foundation scholarship support. For 2017admissions, the Tanoto Foundation provides scholarships to more than 350 students.

Tanoto Foundation scholarship recipients, otherwise known as Tanoto Scholars, are not only receiving support for covering education costs but they are also provided with various soft skills training to improve their skills and capacities, concerning among others public speaking, presentation, teamwork, up to leadership.

“As a scholarship recipient from Tanoto Foundation, I am better able to focus in pursuing achievement. To be able to do so is very important, because I want to be the best in serving the country after graduation. I want to be the future judge of Indonesia who will enable the enforcement of justice in this country, “said Syukri Kurniawan, Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Andalas, Padang.

“When I was accepted to be a Tanoto Scholar for the first time and got a task to do a mini social project, frankly I was happy and challenged. This kind of activity is very useful to enhance my management capability and will support the goal I want to achieve after graduation, which is to become an executive in a SOE (State-Owned Enterprise), “said Adji Fahrizal Sandi, Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Indonesia, Depok.

“The Tanoto Scholarship is important for me, because my mother is a single parent as my father has passed away. I am sure this scholarship will help me in pursuing my dream of becoming an expert in taxation or finance, according to my passion and discipline of study, “said Gloria Yanita Sitorus, Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Hasanuddin, Makassar.

Petrobowl International Championship is an annual competition organized by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) at the Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) event. Petrobowl International Championship 2017 took place on October 9th at Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, San Antonio, Texas, United States.

The competition was participated by 32 teams from different countries around the world to test the knowledge, problem solving skill, and analytical thinking skill of each team in the field of petroleum engineering using the quiz (correct or quick and correct answers) system. Subjects tested comprised technical knowledge (geology, geophysics, drilling & completion, reservoir, production, etc.) and non-technical knowledge (history, trivia, current news, etc.).

To participate in the Petrobowl International Championship, each team was required to participate in the Petrobowl Regional Qualifier organized by each region (Middle East and North Africa, Asia Pacific, Sub-Saharan Africa, USA and Canada, Europe, Russia, North Sea, and the Caspian, as well as South America and the Caribbean), where Indonesia was included in the Asia Pacific region. Only the top five teams at the regional level as well as the 1st and 2nd Winners’ finalists from the previous year were eligible to be participants at the international level.

Petrobowl Asia Pacific Regional Qualifier (APRQ) 2017 took place on July 25-27 at Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP), Perak, Malaysia. The competition was participated by 21 teams from 7 countries in Asia Pacific. We are the Universitas Indonesia (UI) team, competed against UCSI University (Malaysia), Palawan State University (Philippines), Universitas Trisakti (Indonesia), and Batangas State University (Philippines), and managed to achieve the 1st Runner Up (2nd). Thus we together with four other teams were eligible to represent Asia Pacific in the Petrobowl International Championship 2017.

At Petrobowl International Championship, we competed against Heriot-Watt University Scotland in the first half. We won and joined the Top 16. In the second half, we competed against the University of Tulsa USA. At the end of the game, we were actually declared to be the winner and were eligible to continue in the competition as Elite 8, however, Tulsa protested about a problem that was the determinant of our victory. After argumentations, the jury decided to hold a rematch between us and Tulsa. In this rematch, we lost because we were not quick enough to give the answer and as such Tulsa was declared to be included in Elite 8.

Nevertheless, UI team managed to perform well by reaching the Top 16 predicate. With this achievement, it is expected that there will be evaluation and improvement for the preparation of the competition in the future so that UI delegation can bring Indonesia good reputation in the field of oil and gas at international level.

I am very grateful to have the opportunity to become part of the Petrobowl International Championship. It was a challenging experience considering I am not from the Department of Petroleum Engineering but from Bioprocess Technology. Moreover, we had to compete in knowledge against S1 (Bachelor Degree), S2 (Master Degree), and even S3 (Doctorate Degree) students from various world-class universities, most of whom were from the oil engineering majors. This achievement has led me to believe that hard work and prayers will give results.

Written by Nabila Putri Salsabila, Tanoto Scholar from Universitas Indonesia.

The term school comes from the French “escole”, which means the playground. It means a school is a very comfortable and enjoyable place for learning and playing or playing and learning.

Creating a comfortable school may start from child-friendly classrooms, which are classrooms that support the learning process in which children actively develop their potentials in an enjoyable manner.

This is what has been happening in SDN 007 Teluk Paman, Kecamatan Kampar Kiri, Kabupaten Kampar, Riau. This Tanoto Foundation’s partner school is striving to create a comfortable school, by among others creating classroom gardens, utilizing used materials as learning aids, up to improving the quality of classroom management.

In the first grade for example, there are various paintings and displays that adorn the walls of the classroom. Not only that, the classroom is also painted with bright colors, in accordance with children themes. Various works of the children are also on display to foster the pride and confidence of the children.

“We make this classroom child friendly so that the students may feel at home and their confidence grows through the rewards we give, such as awarding stars to students that will be posted on the wall and can be seen by all students. This will make the students compete more creatively and be more daring in coming forward in order to get the stars, “said Mrs. Isneini, S. Pd, grade 1 teacher of SDN 007 Teluk Paman.

Mrs. Isneini gets this idea of creating a child-friendly classroom from the training provided by Tanoto Foundation. The results of the training on classroom management are also shared with the other teachers of SDN 007 Teluk Paman, so that they are able to mentor the students to be creative in their respective classrooms.

As a result, all the classrooms of SDN 007 Teluk Paman are not only places for learning, but also for showcasing the students’ works or portfolios. “My hope is that the students feel more comfortable in the learning process so that they dare to come forward and be more creative than before,” said Mrs. Isneini.

This article is written by Leo Fariddian Sunarya, Tanoto Foundation Riau.