UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta has once again held an International Community Outreach attended by a number of students form Foreign Universities, both those in partnership with UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta and those which are not. This program was held for 6 days 5 nights, and was started with the general provision by the KUI TEAM atUPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta and was followed by the activities conducted in the Village of Pulesari, Sleman. 29 students representing11 countries, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Timor Leste, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Poland, Madagascar, Serbia, Mexico and Venezuela took part in this program.

This program a sharing knowledge activity from UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta the other universities/campuses and vice versa. It must be noted that S1 graduates and diploma graduates are expected and even required to be able to respond to the existing issues and challenges which are now, and may later be, faced by the society. The students’ knowledge on the field of study that they theoretically study will be automatically obtained during their term of study. However, their ability to practice the knowledge that they learn formally in school/university will not be proven until they directly engaged themselves in the society.

Although ICO is held only once a year, the knowledge and experience gained therein are certainly substantial. The material presented, Design Thinking, is one of the methods to invite students to manage properly and certainly make it effective and useful.  Therefore, one of these methods, Design Thinking, which has been implemented properly in many advanced countries, must now be implemented in developing countries, like Indonesia. By joining ICO, a number of domestic and foreign students will be able to interact with the society in order to assist them solve the problems that they (the society) are facing. In addition, students are educated to directly engage in the real condition of the society and, that way, it is hope that they can practice the knowledge that they gained in their formal study, not to keep it theoretical, in the real life. During the ICO, the students will directly study the real conditions and problems that the communities is facing (industry or the communities’ milieu) existing in the village of Pulesari. With the interactions between the local communities and domestic and foreign students, it is hoped that such interaction will, in turn, enhance the quality of international relationships.

As for UPN “Veteran” Yogyakarta, this ICO program is expected to jointly improve its students’ competence and quality in international communication, community development, and personal self-capacity as candidates for professional scholars. Hopefully, the expectation to become an international university can be slowly realized, with the availability of supporting programs and activities.