The Director of International Relations met Roy Nelson, PhD, the Senior Associate Dean of Undergraduate Program, Prof. Lena Booth, the Deputy Dean of Academic Enterprise, and Prof. Sanjeev Khagram, the Dean and Director General, Thunderbird School of Global Management at Thunderbird Global Headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, United States.
This meeting is a follow-up to a series of virtual meetings initiated by both parties since last year. These meetings are part of the SBM ITB work program to develop international classes and provide opportunities for SBM ITB students to apply their knowledge globally.
Several important matters were seriously discussed between Director Fachira and Prof Booth, including bringing the Dual Degree program which combined the SBM ITB Undergraduate Program and BSIT or BGM Thunderbird School of Global Management. They also discussed on the possibility to combine the MBA program from SBM ITB with the Master of Global Management or Master of Leadership Management programs from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
Director Fachira also met Prof. Khagram to explore a teaching staff exchange program between SBM ITB and Thunderbird School of Global Management. It is hoped that this program will spur Research and Writing of Learning Cases (Teaching Study) by SBM ITB lecturers. This program may also help SBM ITB lecturers to publish scientific journals in international reputable publications.
Furthermore, they discussed the possibility of Thunderbird lecturers visiting SBM ITB and teach several classes at SBM ITB during their one semester in Indonesia.
The meeting between SBM ITB and Thunderbird School of Global Management was also attended by Ananda Hutapea, the IA ITB North America Chapter representative in Arizona, who is willing to succeed the collaboration between SBM ITB and Thunderbird School of Global Management. They also stated that SBM is the second school under ITB to spearhead academic and research collaboration programs with Thunderbird in Phoenix, Arizona. Previously, last November, the Faculty of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, represented by Prof. Dirgantara, Prof. Mahyuddin, Dr. Mardiyati, and Mr. Ferryanto have also signed an MOU with Thunderbird.
The IA ITB North America Chapter also expressed their hope that the Schools and Faculties under ITB can collaborate with campuses in the United States, like the programs initiated by FTMD and SBM ITB so far. These meetings are the efforts of the ITB Alumni Association in the United States under Haris Koentjoro and Riko Arsiananta (AR 1990) and the ITB Alumni Association in Arizona organized by Irsal Imran (SI 1983) and Ananda Hutapea (SI 2000), with the full support of the General Chair of PP IA ITB Gembong Primadjaja (MS 1986) and the Staff Office of the General Chairperson of PP IA ITB to help ITB to become an international standard educational institution. They collaborate with ITB alumni and the Indonesian diaspora in the United States for the advancement of Indonesian education in general and in the ITB environment in particular.