The Faculty of Psychology, Gadjah Mada University (UGM) successfully held the New Student Academic Orientation (OA MABA) for the Psychology Professional Education Program, Batch I, online on March 21-23 2024. The main aim of this activity is to welcome new students as well as provide an in-depth understanding of the program study through a series of materials presented.
After officially going through a series of requirements and selection stages, 40 new students of the Psychology Professional Education Program are required to take part in the entire OA MABA series for three days. On the first day, the Head of the Study Program, Dr. Yuli Fajar Susetyo, M.Si., Psychologist, opened the series with a warm welcome and explained the series of orientations that would be carried out.
“Later there will be some material that is soft skills, both related to toughness and others, including self-regulation because we view that pursuing professional education as a psychologist, especially when you enter the area of practical work in the field, requires the ability to self-regulate and toughness, friends. facing the situations you face in the field,” said Yuli Fajar.
Yuli Fajar explained that the challenges faced by new students were difficult, this was due to the dense curriculum standards which had to be completed within 1.5 years or three semesters. This curriculum refers to the standards set by the Indonesian Higher Education Psychology Association and HIMPSI.
“We refer to national standards plus UGM standards which are different from others,” he added.
Dean of the Faculty of Psychology UGM, Rahmat Hidayat, S.Psi., M.Sc., Ph.D., who was also one of the speakers, emphasized the importance of evidence-based psychology services.
“Because of legal recognition, which is at the same time two blades. “One provides certainty in practice, but the other side of the knife is forcing psychologists to practice using evidence-based practice elements,” said the Dean explaining the challenges of the Psychologist Profession.
It was also explained that the practice of the Psychology profession has high risks, where each stage of the assessment carried out has potential risks. Some of these risks include failure to prevent suicide, the detrimental impact of wrong decisions, and suboptimal or even detrimental outcomes due to ineffective interventions.
“The attitude we have to adopt is not to avoid risks in professional practice, because the value of our profession will decrease, become low. “The basic attitude is to accept professional risks, but we mitigate these risks, control these risks with strong protection, the protection is professional practice that is based on evidence-based practice,” he said.
During the three-day orientation session, participants were also invited to follow various materials presented by lecturers, educational staff and resource persons who were experts in their fields. The materials discussed include Curriculum topics, Study Skills, Strategies for Becoming a Successful Learner, Introduction to Academic Information Systems, Laboratory Socialization, Intervention, and Assessment.
It is hoped that through this orientation, new students will be better prepared to face challenges in the field and understand the importance of evidence-based psychological practice in carrying out their profession in the future.
Author: Erna