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Cirebon – Monday date 24 until Wednesday 26 October 2022 is an exciting day for the academic community of UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung. How not, for those three days, campus represented by the Institute for Research and Community Service (LP2M), following a series of ICON UCE events 2022 which was held at IAIN Sheikh Nurjati Cirebon.
This annual conference entitled community service is one of the prestigious events attended by State Religious Universities (PTKIN) throughout Indonesia. In this case, UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung was included in the top six nominees for "Best Community Service Organization". Those who entered the top six selection consisted of campuses: UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung, UIN Sunan Kalijaga Yogyakarta, UIN Raden Mas Said, Surakarta, UIN Sunan Gunung Djati, Bandung, UIN KH. Saifudin Zuhri, Purwokerto, and IAIN Kendari.
Saiful Mustofa was present as a presenter representing LP2M and UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung. He presented the KKN with the theme "Building Sustainable Villages (MDB)” which was implemented at Ds. Align, District. Gandusari, Line. Trenggalek for one semester from the date 7 February 2022 – 18 June 2022. Actually, This KKN model is a derivative of the Ministry of Education and Culture's policy regarding Independent Learning on Independent Campuses (MBKM). And UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung is the only PTKIN that has implemented KKN.
After going through a strict presentation selection, Finally, UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung emerged as first place winner, beating five other campuses. In his presentation, Saiful Mustofa explained that actually KKN using any method or approach will not be optimal if it is only carried out for one month or forty days.. Because of that, UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung ber-ijtihad to carry out KKN for one semester while still referring to the Ministry of Education and Culture's policy regarding MBKM.
Besides that, In this model of KKN, the campus fielded thirty-one students from various departments and across faculties. They focus on working on various strategic programs at Ds. Align, such as assistance in managing mosque waqf letters, establishment of a waste bank, and digitalization of village assets, especially cultural assets which are very dominant in the village. Until the goal, This KKN finally succeeded in identifying and confirming Jajar as a "Cultural Aware Village."
“There are a lot of assets (culture) in this village, starting from the Tiban tradition, Horses, Salawat Classic Salalahuk, Wood Carving Art, Jajar traditional food called "Cukdeh", dll. We digitalize all of that and profiling in the form of news, videos and festivals. Don't forget, we also invite students to do ethnographic research on history or village chronicle and published as a book entitled, Row of Gumregah: History, Village Potential, and Local Wisdom (2022),” explained Saiful in one of his presentation sessions.
Ngainun Naim as chairman of LP2M UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung, In his speech on the night of the awarding of winners, he expressed his thanks to all parties who helped organize this KKN, starting from the Trenggalek Regional Government, the chancellor and all levels of campus officials starting from the vice chancellor 1, dean, deputy dean 1 up to the UIN Sayyid Ali Rahmatullah Tulungagung study program. “We thank all parties involved in the success of the MDB KKN. Without synergy between leaders, institutions and institutions it is impossible for us to achieve this award. I also don't forget to thank all the LP2M crew for their extraordinary performance,” explained the professor who is focused on this literacy campaign. [red/SM]
