Many students from various majors compete to pass their proposals through PIMNAS. But many programs failed to be funded by the Ministry of Research, Technology, Education, and Higher Education (Kemenristekdikti). What is the real key to penetrating the National Student Scientific Week, also known as PIMNAS?
The Nadim Center for Alternative Media Studies and Documentation (PSDMA) presented Rizqiyah Yusrinawati, a Communication Science student at the Indonesian Islamic University (UII) who successfully qualified as a finalist at the 34th Pimnas. In Nadim’s discussion on November 25, 2021, Yusrina told her process in achieving success at PiMNAS. “The process is quite long and quite draining attention. But it’s fun,” said Yusrina, who is often called Yus.
Yusrina, the Head of the Communication Science Dispensation (Discussion and Research Communication) Community UII, gave essential points in the process. He told how one of the judges considered his team to qualify as one of the Finalists in PIMNAS. “One of the judges is happy because our team is different. We dare to collaborate with other majors,” said Yus.
Collaboration provides a broader perspective and view in seeing a problem with more various points of view. The partnership also opens the horizon of thinking to see the issues and solve them more comprehensively from multiple disciplines.
However, collaboration alone is nothing special when a helpful idea does not accompany it. An interesting idea is an idea that sets out to solve a problem that many people experience. Or innovative ideas in pictures that can offer efforts to simplify human work.
Yusrina and her team took the first point: overcoming the current crucial problems. Environmental problems are issues that have increased in tension in this decade. It offers a solution for re-purifying wastewater from washing machines. The amount of water is decreasing; the water quality is now getting dirty.
This knowledge of the environment is not something he is involved in every day as a communication student. He understands that this is crucial because he makes a lot of friends and discusses with students from the environmental engineering department.
But in the process, getting to the PIMNAS Finalists is not as easy as posing for Instagram photos. He had to go through the ups and downs with the team’s cohesiveness. Adjusting the schedule, building the mood with the team, setting priorities between groups to the discipline of recording in the logbook must not be created easily. Easy if only one or two days. But if it has to be done in one year, it becomes a matter of fortitude and patience.
Here are some tips are given by Yus. “Go with maximum effort with the team, follow every existing procedure, fill in the logbook for every work, use funds optimally, collaborate with other majors.”
Filling out the list of tips is much easier than running it from time to time in a matter of years. But it can be done one by one even if you have to fail, fail and then get up.