The Psychology Dept. at AU Welcomes a UNAIR Scholar and Discusses Dual Degree Programs and MOA.---

In order to increasing the international connections, the Department of Psychology at Asia University (AU) aims to expand the international exchanges and sign MOA's with important universities in the world. The chairperson of tt Psychology Dept., Prof. Mein-Woei Suen, indicates that increasing the international cooperation on researches and establishing the dual-degree program, exchanging students, and establishing English-taught master and Ph.D. degrees are our important main goals in recent years.

On December 18th, for example, Dr. Dian Ekowati of the Deputy Executive Director of Airlangga Global Engagement from the University of Airlangga, Surabaya, Indonesia came to the Department of Psychology at AU to give a speech entitled “Territoriality, Psychological Ownership and Emotion During Organizational Changes in Public Sector Organizations in Indonesia”. Some faculties and many international and local graduate students of the Department of Psychology attended the meeting of this speech.

Many students were very interested in the territoriality or psychological ownership issues. Warm-hearted Dr. Dian Ekowati stimulated in-depth back-and-forth discussions on these issues with the students. For examples, AU student Nina asked the question, “Which is better, to educate prior to the changes or during the process of changing process?” Dr. Dian Ekowati answered that using both ways simultaneously had better effects. Also, it is better to informing employees about the coming changes prior to the changes to reduce the resistance of changes. And during the process of the changes, employees could also consult with their supervisors about the problems they encountered. Amie, one of the international students from Thailand, shared how their government system deal with modernization. With the rising of gadgets and technology, people could reach the information of public transportation schedules through applications managed by the government, which improved the public service to a large extent.

Many international students (e.g. Nana, Helena, Gessa, & Lika) felt that the speech was very informative and meaningful because it widened their knowledge about the application of psychology in public sector organizations. Local students (e.g. May, Jenny, & Linda) thought that Dr. Dian Ekowati had presented complicated issues in a simple way to be understood clearly. They were so happy to participate in this speech.

Chairperson Mein-Woei Suen and Associate Professor Shujen Lee Chang said that they are very honored to have Dr. Dian Ekowati and hope that they three can work out a research cooperation together and plan more interactions for facilities and students between AU and UNAIR soon, including establishing dual degree programs and signing an MOA between the two schools.