The Muhammadiyah University of North Sumatra (UMSU) received a visit from the Religious and Educational Attaché of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Indonesia, Ahmed Essa L Alhazmi and Al Brag Abdullah Almeer to establish friendship and explore cooperation in the fields of education and religion.
This visit was welcomed directly by the Chancellor of UMSU Prof. Dr. Agussani, MAP represented by the Vice Chancellor III of UMSU, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rudianto, M.Sc., on Sunday (9/3) in the VIP Room of the UMSU Campus, Jalan Muchtar Basri No.3 Medan.
The Saudi Arabian Embassy group saw various facilities and the Astronomy Observatory located at the UMSU Postgraduate Campus.
The Religious and Educational Attaché of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Indonesia, Ahmed Essa L Alhazmi, expressed his pleasure in being able to visit the Muhammadiyah University of North Sumatra (UMSU) and discuss various potential cooperation.
“I am very happy to be able to come to UMSU and be warmly welcomed by all of you,” he said.
He said that after listening to the presentation about UMSU, he felt proud and impressed with the various programs and contributions of this campus in the world of education and da’wah.
“We know that Muhammadiyah has a wide influence in Indonesia, and this is something extraordinary. The Saudi Arabian Embassy in Jakarta is very happy and proud of
this meeting,” said Ahmed.
He added that the Saudi Arabian Embassy is ready to assist UMSU in various aspects, especially in the development of language, education, and other fields that can strengthen relations between the two parties.
“We hope that UMSU can open an Arabic language study program and continue to communicate with the Saudi Arabian Embassy to continue closer cooperation. God willing, we will follow up on this cooperation for the development of Islamic education and da’wah in the future,” he added.
Previously, on this occasion, WR III UMSU introduced various superior programs of UMSU, one of which is the Astronomy Observatory (OIF) which has been visited by more than 70 thousand people and becomes a crescent moon monitoring point every year.
“In the future, we also plan to develop OIF in Central Tapanuli because the weather and sky conditions there are still very supportive,” said WR III UMSU.
In addition, he also highlighted the increasing number of students in the Astronomy Study Program.
“Alhamdulillah, there are already quite a lot of students in the Astronomy Study Program. We hope that cooperation with Saudi Arabia can help our alumni to continue their S2 and S3 education there,” he added.
Dr. Rudianto said that UMSU is also known to be active in international da’wah, “UMSU is also active in global da’wah. In 2024, we will send lecturers to da’wah in New Zealand and Australia, as well as several Qari to Malaysia to lead prayers during Ramadan,” he said.
The Vice Rector III hopes that in the future UMSU can collaborate with various universities in Saudi Arabia and develop scholarships for foreign students in various countries to study at UMSU.
“This visit is expected to be the first step for closer cooperation between UMSU and the Saudi Arabian Embassy, especially in the fields of education, research, and development of Astronomy and Islamic preaching,” said Rudianto
The visit ended with the presentation of gifts in the form of mushaf from the Saudi Arabian Embassy and souvenirs from UMSU.
Also present at this meeting were the ranks of the Religious and Education Attachés of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Indonesia, the Head of the UMSU Astronomy Observatory (OIF), Dr. Arwin Juli Rakhmadi Butar Butar, MA., Deputy Dean I of the Faculty of Islamic Studies (FAI) UMSU, Dr. Zailani, MA, Head of OIC Rafieqah Nalar Rizky, S.Sos., MA, and several bureau heads at UMSU.
