89 linguistics students from batch 2024 gathered online on Saturday, August 10, 2024, and on Sunday, August 11, 2024, Kalingga (Keluarga Linguistik Universitas Gadjah Mada) welcomed the students in Auditorium Sugondo. Dr. Suhandano, M.A., the head of the Master’s Program in Linguistics, officially welcomed all the new students. The main focus of the meeting was a discussion of academic things before the first semester began. “We learned about how the lecturers held, the syllabus, and all the administrative stuff. Also, the most important thing was about the study plan. We did talk about it a lot since we did not have any clue how to plan and choose the course. Gladly, all the information was shared,” said Kiva.

On the second day, Kalingga held a gathering to welcome the freshmen. It opened by introducing what Kalingga is. It invited the first head of the organization, Aziz Zulfian Afisianto to give a brief history of the organization. It was followed by Yuliana Kristianti, the head of Kalingga, who discussed Kalingga’s work in academic learning and the program they run. 

The interesting part was the discussion involving the linguistics students from batch 2023 to share their experiences while studying in this program. The discussion was conducted in a small group based on three concentrations: descriptive linguistics, sociolinguistics, and translation. “In my group, the translation group, we talked about who the lecturers are, and the learning system in every course. We also tried to use Simaster,” Dita explained. Dita and Kiva also mentioned that this sort of discussion was worth conducting since they could get more detailed information regarding the real-life situation that they might encounter. 

To end the gathering, linguistics students in batch 2024 decided to choose a representative as the bridge to share information from the department as well as the study program with the students. “I hope that all the discussions held, either held by the study program or by Kalingga, can be a medium to get and share important information that can boost their academic performance in the future. I wish you very good luck” said Yuliana. 

After the preparation of FIBAA international accreditation, that day had come. August 7-9, 2024 was the D-day for the event. The series of accreditations was held online where Universitas Gadjah Mada welcomed the accessor on the first day of the event followed by assessing the three study programs, the Bachelor of French Language and Literature, Bachelor of Philosophy, and Master’s in Linguistics, on the second and third day of the event. 

The University held an online reception attended by the Dean of the Faculty of Cultural Sciences, the Dean of the Faculty of Philosophy, as well as all vice deans, the Head of Master’s Program in Linguistics, the Head of Bachelor’s Program in French Language and Literature, and the Head of Bachelor’s Program in Philosophy. They discussed the various aspects regarding how the university responds to the learning system such as the strategy, the rankings, and research support. The discussion marked the initial meeting to accredit the three study programs. 

On the second day, an in-depth discussion was held involving the lecturers, the students, and the alumni. It mainly focused on the discussion of how the study programs apply the learning system and its strategy to keep up-to-date with the rapid changes in the academic world and society. A similar discussion was held on the third day. It involved the academic staff and they talked about the way to manage and organize the educational practices within the study program. The third day was also the last day, thus, it was the end of the FIBAA visitation where the representatives of FIBAA closed the visitation by reviewing all the activity that had been conducted. 

It is important for our study programs to be assessed by particular organizations or foundations. It is a medium to evaluate the study program, in particular for the Master’s Program in Linguistics, to maintain and improve the quality of the educational program. It also enables our study program to ensure curriculum, facilities, and overall educational practices meet the standards as well as to encourage us to stay current with the changing academic and professional demands, which will provide the student with high-quality education not to mention the quality of our graduate.