Information Technology Intern, Directorate of Partnership and Global Relations
Yogyakarta, Indonesia – Sep 2020 to Feb 2021

A role wider than the title suggested

The Office of International Affairs sits at the center of UGM’s outward-facing presence. Everything from student exchange programs to the university’s international rankings runs through it in some way. I joined as an Information Technology Intern during a period when almost everything had shifted online.

As a result, the job covered a wider range than the title suggested. I worked across web development, content strategy, data validation, and partnership outreach, all inside six months.

• I designed, relaunched, and optimized three websites (oia.ugm.ac.id, admission.ugm.ac.id, and ugm.id/oex) within six months. This improved access to student program information for 50,000+ academic users through a mobile-first approach and applied SEO best practices. Consequently, organic reach grew and engagement increased from 500+ prospective international students annually.
• I created and published 80+ targeted articles to promote UGM’s International Outgoing Programs. As a result, the site drew 100,000+ website visits and Instagram followers grew 100% within two months. OIA @UGM therefore became one of the go-to references for students across Indonesia.
• I was charged with refining data accuracy for UGM’s QS Ranking submission. Through rigorous validation and cross-checking of datasets and reporting, the ranking improved by 66 points, moving from 320 in 2020 to 254 in 2021.
• As Partnerships Coordinator for UGM’s Overseas Education Expo, I cold called, negotiated, finalized deals, and onboarded 50+ media partners within 7 days to expand event reach. I also spearheaded outreach to 200+ global universities, which secured 37 partnerships across 4 continents, drove 1,000+ event registrants, and grew Instagram followers by 1,500+.

Building three websites for three different audiences

Rebuilding three live university websites in six months meant working with people who had very different priorities. Academics cared about accuracy. Communications staff cared about tone. Prospective students just wanted to find the right form without getting lost.

The QS Ranking data work was the least visible part of the internship, yet it carried the highest stakes. A ranking submission does not get a second draft. Therefore, every dataset had to be checked against source records more than once before it went out.

What the expo taught me about persistence

The Overseas Education Expo was the sharpest contrast to the deskwork. Cold-calling and negotiating with media partners and universities across four continents in about a week taught me more about persistence than anything I had done before.

That outreach eventually turned into 1,000+ registrants and a real jump in the university’s own audience. Watching that happen made it clear how much partnership work depends on the momentum you build in the first few days. That same instinct for momentum carried into later work well beyond this Information Technology Intern role.