Dr. Fitri Rahmafitria, a lecturer from the Resort and Recreation Management Program at Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia (UPI), has recently concluded a one-month academic visit to the College of Business, Law and Governance (CBLG) at James Cook University (JCU) in Australia. This visit is a critical milestone in UPI’s journey toward achieving World Class University (WCU) status, a goal mandated by the Directorate General of Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Culture, Indonesia. It represents a significant step in UPI’s mission to secure a place among the top 1000 universities in the QS World University Rankings by 2025.
The academic program offers invaluable opportunities for UPI lecturers to enhance the quality of education and research, particularly in academic publishing. Dr. Fitri Rahmafitria collaborated with Associate Professor Dr. Denis Tolkach from JCU on a research project and co-authored a paper titled “Enhancing Readiness and Safety in Forest Recreation: Effective Visitor Management for Accident Prevention and Rescue Measures.” The initial discussion on this research and publication took place on July 10, 2024, in Room D3.003 at JCU’s Cairns campus.
Dr. Fitri Rahmafitria’s visit was not solely focused on research collaboration. She also shared her expertise with JCU students, delivering sessions on Halal Tourism in Hospitality Operations Management and participating in Hospitality and Gastronomy classes coordinated by Dr. Jenny Panchal. The active participation of students and dynamic discussions demonstrated their enthusiasm and the relevance of these topics, particularly given the growing number of Muslim tourists—a trend that impacts all of us.
To ensure the sustainability of the cooperation program between JCU and UPI, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony was held on July 8, 2024. Dr. Heni Mulyani from UPI attended the event, along with Dr. David Craig, Chief Marketing Officer of JCU, Dr. Jammie Fellow, Dean of CBLG, Professor Mohammad Azim, and other JCU faculty members. The MoU marks the potential for JCU and UPI to expand their academic and research collaboration, enhance knowledge and experience exchange between the two institutions, and explore opportunities for joint program development, student and staff exchanges, and mutually beneficial collaborative projects—a prospect that should bring optimism to all of us.
During this visit, Dr. Fitri Rahmafitria also accepted an invitation from Reiza Miftah, a Doctoral Candidate at Griffith University, Australia, to serve as a validator for his dissertation research. The validation session took place at the Department of Tourism, Sport and Hotel Management, Griffith Business School, Gold Coast, on Thursday, July 18, 2024. The session was also attended by Professor Sarah Gardiner and Associate Professor Alexandra Coghan.