PSU’s Surat Thani Campus organized an international project titled "Advancing Digital Competence for 21st Century Public Administration Professionals". Prof. Dr. Achmad Nurmandi from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia, was invited as a lecturer for the course “Principles of Public Administration” on 20 September 2022 to increase the capacity of management in the 21st century for the new generation, and to create an academic cooperation network in the field of public administration between PSU and universities in ASEAN. The project’s target groups were first-year students in Public Administration under the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Management Sciences, and freshmen in Chinese for Business Communication under International College Surat Thani Campus.
The lectures focused on the topic of "Digital Competency" or "Digital Literacy", a frequently discussed skill in the digital age, one that has been linked to professionalism in public administration. The speaker pointed out the importance of massive amounts of information in the digital age, also known as Big Data. Public administrators must have knowledge, skills, understanding, and application of information for effective and efficient public administration under good governance. The course also described digital capabilities through Bloom's Digital, which includes six steps: memory, understanding, application, analytical thinking, evaluating, and being an Inventor/Creator to respond to the changes of the digital world. Learning is no longer confined to interactions between teachers and learners; the media and digital tools extend learning capabilities as well.
The lectures were organized under the PSU Open Mobility Project Year 2022 (Reinventing University Project - 2022) with “Virtual Visiting Professor” support granted by the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation, in order to develop cooperation with international stakeholders in creating a body of knowledge and innovation. The university has allocated a budget for lecturers who are interested in organizing Virtual Visiting Professor activities to drive PSU’s efforts at internationalized education, fostering its global recognition in academic circles through teaching and research management with foreign professors.
