Dozens of students from all over Indonesia participated in the exchange program in Manokwari

A total of 77 students from 45 universities in Indonesia participated in the Independent Student Exchange program launched by the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture in Manokwari Regency, West Papua.
 
The Nusantara Module Lecturer Nanang May in Manokwari, Saturday, explained that the 77 students who exchanged studied at the University of Papua (UNIPA) for one semester.
 
"In addition to academic studies, they are required to study culture, diversity and tolerance worth 4 credits, known as the Nusantara Module, which is followed every Saturday and Sunday," said Nanang who is also a Forestry Lecturer at UNIPA.
 
The Nusantara module is designed to get to know the local culture. He said that the Nusantara Module was designed to help students see the rich variety of Indonesian culture and nature.
 
He hopes that students who come with different perceptions can see Papuans have similarities with outsiders, including having a high tolerance value.
 
The 77 students from various universities have come since August 15, 2022 and are planned to return to their respective campuses in December 2022.
 
A student of the Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Medan State University (Unimed), Muammar Hanafi assessed that during the past month what was found in Papua was interesting, such as the preservation of forests.
 
He also said that he had begun to understand the culture of the Papuan people in Manokwari, including the enthusiasm of the community to protect the forest and the production of non-timber forest products that could be inherited for future generations.

At the inaugural Papuan Traditional Music Concert at Borarsi Field which was held on Saturday afternoon, the exchange program students were here to listen and learn Papuan traditional music. The day before, the students also attended Forestival at the Gunung Meja Nature Tourism Park to learn about forest conservation by the community and NGOs.

SOURCE: https://papuabarat.antaranews.com/berita/19345/tens-mahasiswa-se-indonesia-ikut-program-pertukaran-di-manokwari