Hello, everyone!

It has been 3 months since I've started my new chapter in life as a student in Telkom University. In those 3 months, I have experienced many new things, things that I had not yet seen before from where I came from. While 3 months is still short in the grand scheme of things, it was still enough for me to make lots of observations of all the things I have seen and experienced. And so, I have to say, the culture and environment that are present in Telkom University are certainly worthy of being dubbed one of the best private universities in Indonesia.

But today, I want to talk about something specific. It's about the Sustainable Development Goals, SDG for short, that is present in Telkom University. And so, we begin by asking, what is Sustainable Development Goals?

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), is a movement by the United Nations in 2015 that is meant to be an emergency and urgent call to all countries out there, with itself being a list of goals that acts as a blueprint for a more sustainable future for humanity and the world as a whole. These goals ultimately exist to address issues and challenges we, as the face of humanity, deal with in our lives. These issues may range from poverty, to peace and justice.

With the main mission being “A shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”, there are 17 goals in Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which are:

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequality
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Consumption and Production
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions
17. Partnership for the Goal

Now, enough about being theoretical and lets move on to the practicality. Telkom University, largely dubbed one of the best private universities in Indonesia, has of course participated in following these guidelines and principles, albeit to a varying extent of success. And so, to make things simple, we need to determine the key goals that Telkom University must achieve and how far Telkom University has worked towards achieving those goals. Of course, it does not mean that these are the only goals that it must achieve with completely disregard to the rest. It is as said earlier, only the key points. Let's begin.

• Quality Education

To no one's surprise, with Telkom University acting as an institute of education, has to abide by this guideline first and foremost. As UNESCO puts it, "Education is the process of facilitating learning or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs and habits. Quality education specifically entails issues such as appropriate skills development, gender parity, provision of relevant school infrastructure, equipment, educational materials and resources, scholarships or teaching force.".  And so, let's talk about the quality of education in Telkom University.

So, first things first, learning environment. It can be said that the environment where you learn is way more important than anything else. Even if you're taught by the best teacher out there, if the environment where you're taught is, to put it lightly, not in your favor, it'd be hard for any of what you learn to stick, there'd be lots of things that could distract you, and your mind would be focused on trying to make yourself comfortable amidst all the discomfort, instead of paying full focus on the education ahead of you. So, in a sense, the best possible comfort would be an environment that can make you feel like there is no possible interruptions, almost like everything is an empty space where the only thing there is you and the education. Of course, this is merely an exaggeration with complete disregard for things like beauty in design and all that, but I hope that gets the point across.

So how is the learning environment in Telkom University? For every year/generation, the students are divided into multiple classes, ranging from as small as 5 students in the case of International Classes to around 30-40 students in the case of Regular Classes. This alone is already great at maximizing the comfort in the learning environment. The more people you have in your class, the harder it is to focus. Not only that, it would be harder for the lecturer to keep track of so many students, essentially lowering the quality of the education for all.

Moving on to the classrooms, the classrooms are packed nicely with suiting needs for general class works. A TV and a projector are also provided for ease of access in both lectures and presentation. The classes are also regularly cleaned, almost making them spotless. This, with also the great view of the city and the mountains that makes it very pleasant for us to study in. Although, a small nitpick has to be made that we could still see trash and other leftovers inside the drawers of each table. This is of course, not entirely the fault of the people cleaning the rooms, there just needs to be an effort to reinforce the students to clean and empty the drawers before leaving, as the classrooms are not just theirs. Another nitpick is that the card tapping functionality that are present in most classes right now is totally unused. Whatever the reason may be, be it technical problems or simply the lack of incentive to use them that makes it still unusable to now, it is still a facility that is not used to its fullest extent, or in this case not used at all.

Telkom University has also provided us with many laboratories for us to use in our studies. In regards to Electrical Engineering, the laboratories that are provided includes, but not limited to, the Microprocessor Lab, Electrical Circuits Lab, and many others. These labs' existence is critical to ensure the maximum efficiency in studies. More often than not, having experience in practice is way more beneficial and efficient than just simply learning the theories.

Now to the second thing that I want to talk about regarding quality education, it's about the actual quality of education that we as students receive. Telkom University has recruited an arsenal of professors and lecturers with varying degrees that suits the degrees that the University provides to the students. These lecturers have as far as a doctorate's degree in their field. Having the actual experts teach us in fields that they do best is very much beneficial for us students.

Telkom University has also provided us websites and applications for us to use to help us in our studies. One such case is CeLOE and its divisions like LMS or onlinelearning. These websites' existence has not only helped us students, it has also helped the lecturers. LMS, for example, has helped us organize and manage our tasks and homeworks better and provides the lecturers and students easy access to the materials that are taught.

Overall, the quality of education in Telkom University has a quite high standard. Aside from small nitpicks, I have no problems with it whatsoever. It has been a pleasant experience learning in Telkom University so far in my 3 months of being a student here.

• Environment

While environment was already briefly tackled earlier regarding the learning environment, in this one I want to talk about the actual environment in Telkom University, not just its learning environment. This tackles multiple goals that are included in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), so rather than talking about it one by one, as these has overlapping elements, I would like to tackle them in one category; Environment.

So, we begin by asking, what is environment? By definition from the Oxford Languages, it is the world as a whole or in a particular geographical area, especially as affected by human activity. So, in this case, the Telkom University area is our environment and we as denizens of Telkom University are the humans affecting it.

See, going by the definition, it is true that we are affecting our own environment, however we should never forget that the environment also affects us and our daily lives. And so, it is crucial that we, as the humans living in the environment, to make sure that the environment that we live in and rely on stays at the best shape possible, not just for the environment itself, but also for the future of the humans both inside and outside the environment

And so, what has Telkom University done to participate in making the environment better? Lots of things. In particular, we can look in the case of renewable energy. Telkom University has implemented sustainable organic power plants, for example the solar panels. Telkom University has also dabbled in wind turbines as a source of energy, which can be seen in this article. With this, Telkom University has participated in the Go Green movement, which is a movement that pursues knowledge and practices that can lead to more environmentally friendly and ecologically responsible behaviors and lifestyles that can help conserve the environment and sustain its natural resources for present and future generations.

Another thing is the greenery of the area. Telkom University has made sure its area stays as natural and fresh as possible. You'd see lots of trees, grasses, bushes, and others just about anywhere. Anywhere you go, you wont be able to see a place without trees and other greeneries. To add on this, Telkom University was built around a lake that locals have dubbed, "Danau Galau". All of this just adds on to the feeling of freshness and natural that Telkom University has built.

There is also a bicycle rental system that students and other denizens of Telkom University may use in order to traverse Telkom University's vast area. Personally, I think it is a great system. Telkom University has a large traversable area, and rather than using motorcycles or cars to travel around just the Telkom University area, a good alternative is using bicycle. Bicycles are not only eco friendly, they're also good for your health. However, there is a big problem. The bicycle rental system, as far as I know, is currently and has been inactive. I think it'd be really beneficial for us if the system were to be revived.

Overall, Telkom University has contributed amazingly at making sure its environment stays at the best shape possible, with great contributions to renewable energy, waste disposal, and other valuable things. I have absolutely no complaints regarding how Telkom University handles it, it's been a pleasure living in this environment in my 3 months of being a student here.


In conclusion, I think Telkom University has done a great job at fulfilling the goals listed in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). It certainly has lived up to its name as one of the best private universities in Indonesia. I only hope it only continues to improve for the better, both for its denizens and its environment.