After the end of the Covid-19 pandemic, Diponegoro University and the National Standardization Agency (BSN) held a sharing session related to standardization on Tuesday (1/8/2023) to reactivate the BSN Corner. Taking place at the Diponegoro University Library Building, the activity was held with the theme “BSN-Undip Standardization Opportunity and Cooperation” by presenting speakers from the Head of the BSN Public Relations Bureau (Zul Amri, S.T.), Head of the Standardization Education Forum (Dr. Bambang Purwanggono), and BSN Community Complaint Analyst (RA Bayuarti Wahyu K, SIP).

The activity, which was carried out in a hybrid manner (offline and online), was attended by around 150 (one hundred and fifty) participants consisting of lecturers and education staff within Undip, participants from the Regional Archives and Libraries Office of Central Java Province and Semarang City, representatives from the library universities throughout the city of Semarang, as well as other guests. The activity discussed the process of fulfilling standards for goods and services as seen from the number of standards-based conformity certificates (systems, products, services) issued by LPK (Conformity Assessment Institute) and various opportunities that could be collaborated with university personnel.

Vice Rector for Communication and Business, Prof. Budi Setiyono, in his opening remarks, said that in the current era of disruption, good synergy is needed between Undip and various stakeholders to carry out the duties of the Tri Dharma of Higher Education. “The collaboration with BSN is important so that it does not only implement the Tri Dharma task for Undip but also properly realize the standardization and conformity assessment by BSN and can benefit the community, nation, and state,” said Prof. Budi.

In a dynamic era due to the development of digital technology, Prof. Budi reminded all parties to be aware of the changing trends that occur in all aspects of life, including in the context of standardization. “With information technology, especially AI (artificial intelligence), conventional processes are evaluated, corrected, and encourage the birth of new formulations in various fields. If this is not anticipated, then stagnation can occur, which destroys the existence of our roles and institutions, resulting in our services being considered irrelevant or not following current conditions,” he continued.

It should be noted that Undip and BSN have collaborated in the form of establishing a BSN Corner since 2015. The two agencies also often conduct outreach activities about SNI (Indonesian National Standardization) for all civitas academica and the general public every year.

The speakers discussed BSN’s challenges, including law enforcement against industries or organizations not complying with SNI rules enforced compulsorily. Preventive activities are in the form of SNI socialization activities together with POLRI, while law enforcement activities are in the form of firm action against anyone who violates SNI rules. In addition, another challenge BSN faces is the empowerment of Small and Medium Enterprises so they can be competitive by implementing SNI. They need to get coaching assistance so they do not experience difficulties and can achieve SNI certificates according to the mandate of Law Number 20 of 2014 concerning Standardization and Conformity Assessment. The government is obliged to help SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises) achieve SNI.

Source: undip.ac.id