Breaking New Ground, UMPO Inaugurates Its First Two Professors

UMPO.AC.ID  -  Universitas Muhammadiyah Ponorogo (UMPO) has marked a significant milestone in its academic development. For the first time, UMPO has officially inaugurated two Professors who were fully developed through the university’s internal academic mentoring system—often referred to as being born from UMPO’s own “academic womb.”

The two newly inaugurated Professors are Prof. Dr. Sudarno, M.T. and Prof. Dr. Afiful Ikhwan, M.Pd.I. Their inauguration stands as clear evidence of UMPO’s strong commitment to continuously strengthening the quality of its human resources.

UMPO Rector Dr. Ridlo Kurnianto, M.Ag. expressed his appreciation and pride for this historic achievement. According to him, this success reflects the effectiveness and proper direction of UMPO’s faculty career development system.

He emphasized that Prof. Sudarno and Prof. Afiful Ikhwan are the first Professors to emerge entirely from UMPO’s internal academic process, positioning them as pioneers for other lecturers aspiring to attain the highest academic rank.

“Professor Sudarno and Professor Afiful Ikhwan are the first Professors truly nurtured and developed within UMPO,” Ridlo Kurnianto stated.

Furthermore, the Rector explained that this achievement is not the final goal, but rather the beginning of a larger institutional vision. Currently, UMPO is in the process of preparing eight additional faculty members who are expected to follow in the footsteps of the two newly inaugurated Professors.

He expressed optimism that by the end of 2026 or early 2027, UMPO will have at least ten active Professors contributing to the advancement of education, research, and community service.

In addition to accelerating the development of Professors, UMPO continues to invest heavily in improving the qualifications of its academic staff. At present, 40 lecturers are pursuing doctoral (PhD) studies. This number will be strengthened by another 71 lecturers who are projected to complete their doctoral programs within the same period.

“God willing, by the end of 2026 or early 2027, we will experience a ‘doctoral harvest’ of around 130 PhD holders. This means approximately 54 percent of UMPO’s lecturers will hold doctoral degrees,” he added.

With an increasingly solid human resource foundation and the achievement of ‘Excellent’ (Unggul) institutional accreditation since July 2024, UMPO is now more confident in pursuing its next strategic target—the establishment of a Faculty of General Medicine in 2027.