The training took place intensively for one week, from Monday to Friday, on October 16-20, 2023, at the ICT Centre Building of Undana.
Two speakers from the University of Leeds, invited by the International Affairs Office (KUI) of Undana, conducted the training. They were Dr. Alex Ding, Director of Scholarships at the Language Centre, and Associate Professor of English for Academic Purposes, and Dr. Milada Walkova, Lecturer in English for Academic Purposes.
During the opening of the training, Prof. Dr. Annytha I. R. Detha, M.Si, Vice Rector for Academic Affairs, expressed her appreciation and gratitude for the presence and willingness of the team from the Language Centre at the University of Leeds to provide training for postgraduate researchers.
She mentioned that the leadership of Undana is committed to supporting human resource development activities, especially in supporting the research of Undana’s lecturers.
Prof. Annytha mentioned that the lecturers participating in this program were carefully selected. Among thousands of Undana lecturers, only 20 were able to attend this training program. This also applied to lecturers from the Kupang Polytechnic of Agriculture and the Artha Wacana Christian University (UKAW) in Kupang.
She expressed hope that the participants, who were mostly Ph.D. holders, would be able to benefit from the training program. She said, “We also hope that the participants will enjoy the week-long training.” For your information, the University of Leeds is one of the leading universities in the UK (QS World Rankings 2021) and boasts one of the most prestigious Language Centres in the higher education sector in the UK.
Dr. Alex Ding, Director of Scholarships at the Language Centre and Associate Professor of English for Academic Purposes at the University of Leeds, expressed his hope that the participants would enjoy the seminar and be able to engage in the activities effectively. From the first day to the last, the two presenters took turns delivering the content. On the first day, the presenters provided an introduction and course focus, an overview of Ph.D. studies including terminology, governance, requirements, and a comparison between the English and Indonesian contexts, along with reading materials and more.
On the second day, participants were trained to consider syllabus design principles for Postgraduate Researchers (PGR), analyze the PGR syllabus from Leeds, design their own PGR syllabus, and more.
On the third day, participants explored how genre-based approaches could help instructors in exploring and understanding forms of communication in specific academic disciplines. This included a focus on language context, audience, rhetoric, and the structure of moves. It also covered spoken language and oral language for presenting research proposals orally.
On the fourth day, participants were facilitated to reflect, assess, evaluate, and engage critically in their learning. They also explored the types of critical thinking and writing required in specific academic disciplines and fields of study.
On the fifth day, participants discussed and considered various teaching approaches that could help plan learning tailored to the needs of students/PGR. The course concluded with a collective reflection on learning and personal plans for future research and further development (reflection).