A new semester means new faces on campus, and this time, one of them has come all the way from Myanmar to join the IUP Psychology program! Her name is Julia and she is here to explore a new country, meet new people, and experience student life in Indonesia.

Julia chose Indonesia because of its rich diversity, filled with culture and traditions. She mentioned that the people here are friendly and some of our customs such as the way we show respect to elders, holding our hands in front of our chest as a form of greeting or showing gratitude reminds her of Myanmar. 

Naomi Nicola is a student from IUP Batch 2021. While her friends filled up their fifth semester by going through exchange programs and summer courses, Naomi took a different road in filling up her fifth semester with an internship program at RSA UGM as a child psychologist assistant.

Being a child psychologist has always been Naomi’s passion and future goal, so when she came across Career Center’s internship offer, she immediately applied and submitted all the required documents until she reached the interview phase, which she successfully passed. During her internship, Naomi had a lot of experience and direct exposure to the hands-on practice of child psychology that she did not get to learn inside the classroom, specifically on handling various IQ administration tests (such as Weschler’s Intelligence Scale for Children, WPPSI, Snijder Oomen Non-verbal Testing). read more

The Psychology Department at State Islamic University Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, conducted a writing competition for the year 2023. The writings are incorporated in a journal titled Jurnal Psikologi Integratif. One of the IUP Psychology students batch 2019, Beatrice Febe Fedolina, with guidance from Mrs. Edilburga Wulan Saptandari as her supervisor, participated in the competition and successfully won the 2nd Best Article. The title of her article is “Perceived Social Support as a Predictor of Acculturative Stress Among Indonesian Exchange Students in Europe.” Although studying abroad seems very interesting and exciting, the number of changes and differences students need to adapt to could make them feel overwhelmed and eventually stressed. Acculturative stress is a decrease in ethnic minorities’ mental health and well-being that occurs throughout the process of adapting to a new culture. Many factors affect students’ acculturative stress levels; one example is the social support they receive from their surroundings. The findings from prior studies have demonstrated that social support is a positive coping mechanism for dealing with stress and psychological adjustment by improving functioning and acting as a buffer against adverse outcomes. To fill a gap in the literature on Asian international students’ acculturative stress levels, specifically those who originated from Indonesia, this research was conducted to determine whether perceived social support predicts students’ acculturative stress levels. read more

Masniary Hapsari ‘Oik’ was a student in IUP Psychology from Batch 2017. After graduating from IUP Psychology in 2021, she needed clarification about the career she wanted to pursue. She tried to explore career opportunities in Psychology and finally became an assistant psychologist at Biro Psikologi Intuisi, Yogyakarta. Nearing the end of the contract, she realized that she loved working with children, especially those with disabilities. This aligns with her prior motivation to pursue a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology in the first place. On the other hand, she also wanted to continue further education and immediately recognized the urgency of finding a financial sponsorship to ease her parents. She tried to apply for the Chevening Scholarship, but it didn’t turn out how she hoped. Feeling down, she realized that experiences are necessary for pursuing a master’s degree.  read more

Greetings! My name is Salsabilla Sasha, a third year student in IUP Faculty of Psychology, Universitas Gadjah Mada. I am one out of seven students that are currently pursuing an exchange year in Rikjsuniversiteit Groningen, a Dutch for University of Groningen. So far, to study abroad has been the greatest experience in my life, where I get to meet a whole lot new faces, cultures and routines. Without any exaggeration, this experience is slowly, but surely, making me into a better and independent person. read more