24th UPH Festival Introduces Biblical Worldview & Liberal Arts

The Welcoming of UPH New Students UPH has officially begun today, Wednesday, August 16, 2017, at the UPH Karawaci Campus, Tangerang. Since 6 in the morning, thousands of UPH new students started to come one by one. They were warmly welcomed by the senior students who were gathered in a mentoring team. Every day, all of the new students will have to follow an agenda which started at 07:00 and ended at 16:00, with a variety of programs.

One of the programs on the first day of UPH Festival was Introduction to Biblical Worldview & Liberal Arts, which has become the basis of holistic education in UPH. This session was brought by Matthew R. Malcolm, Ph.D., Executive Dean of Faculty of Liberal Arts.

Dr. Malcom explained about the Faculty of Liberal Arts (FLA) to the new students, and what this Faculty would offer them with. In general, FLA UPH will provide a crucial education foundation for students that will enable them to fulfill their potentials that God has given within their life and through their education. 

?Faculty of Liberal Arts akan membantu anda untuk memiliki kebijaksanaan dalam memandang sesuatu. Kemampuan ini akan didapat melalui tiga bidang utama yang ada di FLA yaitu Religious and Worldview Studies, Philosophical Sciences dan Life Skills and Languages,? jelas Dr. Malcom.

?The Faculty of Liberal Arts will help us to gain the wisdom in viewing one matter. This ability will be obtained through the three main courses offered in FLA; they are Religious and Worldview Studies, Philosophical Sciences and Life Skills and Languages,? explained Dr. Malcom.

In another campus, commonly, Liberal Arts becomes an optional course, unlike here, in UPH. In UPH, Liberal Arts become a compulsory course. All students are obliged to take 28 credits from the courses offered in FLA. Uniquely, the FLA?s curriculum is made accordingly to student?s major and beliefs (religion). For example, a student who studies science will learn about social studies in FLA and vice versa; and then, non-Christian students will have to take the Christian Worldview course, whereas the Christian and Catholic students have to take the theology course. Thus, the knowledge that these students obtained will complete each student?s discipline.

With Liberal Arts education in their hands, when they graduated, they have been ?equipped? with soft skills and a great insights which they will surely need for their career; such as logic and critical thinking, problem solving, effective communication, negotiating, asking the right question, adapting with various situation as well as team work.  With the cross-disciplinary thinking skills and Christian Worldview education which have been given, hopefully, they can see the world from the correct point of view. 

?Therefore UPH views FLA as an important part of our education because UPH wants to produce graduates who think critically and decisively, who properly knows God and the existence of human being and those who are able to work and maintain relationships maturely.  With this knowledge, UPH graduates hopefully could face and undergo all the challenges in life,? he also added.

After this session, there was another session where students are introduced to the campus life with the Student Life Department of UPH, which was as exciting as all the other sessions (rh).