International Conference on University Community-Engagement

The PTKI academic community must rebrand as intellectuals and philosophers who can carry out social transformation. Intellectuals and philosophers are the actors of change. Efforts are needed to improve campus capabilities and make each component aware as intellectuals who can explore issues based on personal and institutional abilities.

Critical awareness is needed to free society from the shackles of inability to fight injustice and oppression in globalization era. The service paradigm must be based on critical analytical research, and socio-political action. Creating dialogue with the community and critical reflection is fundamental.

As intellectuals, the campus community must be encouraged to find local knowledge from life experiences and use this knowledge to make changes and solve problems in society. The community is invited to identify problems, their causes, opportunities for problem solving, develop action plans, and measure the success rate of actions.

Higher education contributions and innovations should be a breakthrough to unravel the community’s problems. By merging with the community, academicians who are not far from the reality of society comes into existence.

It is necessary to innovate the theory and practice of community service approaches, especially within Islamic Religious Colleges (PTKI). A research approach that is able to involve members of the lower class to encourage transformative actions and free society from various inequalities is vital. Striving to be close and mutually beneficial to the community, universities must be able to realize changes in the structure of society, through changes in mindsets, attitudes and social life that are better and more dignified.

An approach in the concept of empowerment that makes the community the subject of its own development efforts is fundamental. The extent to which a practical approach is formulated in a focused, participatory and community-involved manner should be measured. The approach should also provide empirical space for the community to design, implement, manage and account for efforts to improve the quality of their lives.

Therefore, the International Conference on University Community Engagement is important. ICON-UCE is a biennial activity organized by the Directorate of Islamic Religious Higher Education as an academic forum, dissemination of the results of research-based service and innovation as well as university partnership synergies, with a number of stakeholders both in Indonesia and abroad as the latest community empowerment.

Some of the ICON-UCE hosts include; UIN Alauddin Makassar in 2014, UIN Sunan Ampel Surabaya in 2016, and UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang in 2018. IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon is the host of the 4th event and became the first IAIN to be mandated by the Ministry of Religion.