The Industrial Revolution 4.0 has given a significant impact on the technological development of countries throughout the world, especially the state and nation of Indonesia. Massive digitalization demands companies and institutions from various fields to alter their way of doing business. If a company or an institution does not transform to keep up with the current development, sooner or later the institution will lose its market. An institution that is currently transforming, particularly in the digitalization field, is Universitas Brawijaya (UB). Every institution including UB must be able to integrate and keep up with these technological developments, including the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in Universitas Brawijaya for the field of research development and agricultural technology science. The implementation of Industrial Revolution 4.0 within the Faculty of Agricultural Technology must be targeted and gradually achieved, where it encompasses organizational governance, teaching resources and students, which will eventually become digital-based 4.0 as a whole.
The Faculty of Agricultural Technology (FAT) must prepare what digital stakeholders see in this era. The aspects that need to be noticed are in terms of the provider, content (platform, product, sensor), and style (partner, player, purchaser). In 2024, referring to the industrial development 4.0, institutions including the Faculty of Agricultural Technology must transform from a manual process to a human resource that is overall digital, where lecturers and education personnel must be millennial oriented by being provided with various training that is prepared to be able to compete in leadership and organizational governance from companies or industries in Indonesia. Hence, the Faculty of Agricultural Technology (2019-2023) anticipates achieving this Autonomous Business era in 2025.
The primary needs of humans for food, renewable energy, environment and biomaterials will be a challenge in the future. Food as one of the primary needs in this modern era is not only consumed to meet the basic needs but has also become a part of a lifestyle. The development of food to support a healthy and practical lifestyle is a challenge for various parties to create innovations. In addition to food, energy issues also require serious handling. Currently, the use of renewable energy is still not optimal. This is an opportunity and challenge for academics to carry out explorations related to the use of renewable energy sources.
The FAT UB Renstra 2019-2023 is an inseparable part of efforts to achieve quality standards and educational services towards a world-class university, as well as educational services for all levels of Indonesian society. Looking at the substance, it appears that the policies outlined in the 2019-2023 FAT UB Strategic Plan are a continuation and strengthening of the policies that have been realized in the 2013-2022 FAT UB Strategic Plan. This is shown by increasing policy focus on the downstream sector of research results and improving the quality of outcome-based graduates and international partnerships. The addition of the development policy shows that the essence of the duties and responsibilities of higher education institutions will not shift far from its main mission in implementing the Tridharma of Higher Education which is enriched with other additional duties and responsibilities that are adapted to the dynamics that occur in its internal and external environment. However, the 2019-2023 FAT Strategic Plan is the addition and development of new programs that are believed to be able to accelerate the achievement of FAT and Universitas Brawijaya vision. The policies and programs compiled in the Strategic Plan of FAT are the real roles of FAT in realizing UB as a world-class university. Various program achievement indicators also describe the efforts that must be achieved to meet the criteria as a world-class university. Policies and programs with relevant program achievement indicators are aimed at achieving the FAT vision of excellence, especially in the field of education.
Environmental pollution, a problem parallel to food and energy issues, continues to increase due to the growth rate of the population that needs to be handled by providing the application of clean technology. The objective of this is to give a positive impact towards the balance of the overall environmental system in supporting human life, and the sustainability of development in a long term. Apart from the challenge of the crisis mentioned above, another future challenge is related to the development of biomaterial for providing additional value upon natural resources, thus being capable to compete globally in a long term. To overcome the issue of the basic human needs of food, renewable energy, environment and biomaterials, a role from the academics is needed through their creative innovations. With that in mind, a superior faculty within Universitas Brawijaya that has the capability to handle this matter is the Faculty of Agricultural Technology (FAT).
Since its establishment in 1998, the Faculty of Agricultural Technology has consistently and continuously placed education as the main endeavour in implementing community service for Indonesia. With the attempt to carry out their endeavour, the Faculty of Agricultural Technology is constantly changing internally and responding to external factors. This effort is done to maintain the existence of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology and to actively respond to the changes and demands that are happening in society.
In accordance with the determination of Universitas Brawijaya’s vision to become a world-class entrepreneurial university, in 2006 the direction of development for the Faculty of Agricultural Technology has systematically been put forth in the Strategic Plan of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology 2006-2010 and 2012-2018 as a reference for work policies and programs. During that period, the Faculty of Agricultural Technology has done efforts to continuously improve the quality and academic service, improve the research and community service for the society, the development of organizations and student activities, the arrangement of organizational governance and institutions, the modernization of facilities, improve the capacity of information technology, the arrangement of management and human resources, as well as improve the employee welfare and other supporting aspects. Meanwhile, adaptations and active responses towards the various external challenges have been carried out by the Faculty of Agricultural Technology through the efforts to fulfil the demands of the graduates’ quality, compliance with the international and national quality standards in the implementation of higher education, where the response towards the enactment of Law Number 14 of 2005 about Teachers and Lecturers is also included.
Referring to the Strategic Plan of Universitas Brawijaya in 2015-2019 and the Minister’s Regulation of Research, Technology and Higher Education, the Strategic Plan of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in 2019-2023 is an integral part of efforts to achieve quality standards and education services towards a world-class university, and education services for all segments within Indonesia. Based on the substance, it is seen that the policy put forth in the Strategic Plan of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in 2019-2023 is the extension and reinforcement from the policies that have been realized in the Strategic Plan of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in 2013-2022. This is indicated by the rise of policies focusing on the field of downstream researches and the increase in the quality of outcome-based graduates and international partnerships. The addition of the development policy shows that the essence of the tasks and responsibilities of the higher education institutions will not shift away from the main mission in implementing the Three Pillars of Higher Education, which is enriched with the additional duty and responsibility adjusted to the dynamics that occur in the internal and external environment. However, the Strategic Plan of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in 2019-2023 is an additional and development of new programs believed to be able to accelerate the achievement of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology and Universitas Brawijaya’s vision. Policies and programs arranged in this Strategic Plan are the true roles of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology in embodying Universitas Brawijaya as a world-class university. Numerous indicators of program achievements also portray the effort that must be done in order to fulfill the criteria of a world-class university. Policies and programs with the indicators of achieving relevant programs in efforts to accomplish a superior vision of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology, especially in the field of education.
In the next five years (2019-2023), the policy of the Faculty of Agricultural Technology policy seeks to develop by focusing on the following fields (1) the development and assurance of organizational governance and business process that are effective and efficient (2) development of academic quality assurance (3) the increase of mutual cooperation in the field of the Three Pillars of Higher Education, (4) the increase of top-quality graduates who are globally competitive and have the entrepreneurial spirit, (5) the increase of qualifications and reputation of lecturers and educators, (6) the increase of the quantity and quality of the facilities and infrastructures within the Three Pillars, (7) the quality improvement of outcome-based education, (8) the increase of downstream researches and innovation of researches and the recognition of international publications, (9) the increase of institutional image through dissemination and public leadership
The Strategic Plan and Work Plan of FAT in 2019-2024 can be downloaded here and here