Language has a great influence in shaping our perception of what we see and what we experience. By having good language skills, a person will be able to bring his readers or listeners to the expected destination. The Department of English Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Unej understands this condition and realises it in one of its courses, Creative Writing. Through this class, students are encouraged to develop writing where creativity is at the forefront through the use of imagination and innovation to tell a story through written visuals that have a strong emotional impact.
To further improve the ability and motivation of students in Creative Writing class and as one of the implementations of the 2022 Merdeka Campus Competition Program (PKKM) obtained by the Department of English Literature, Faculty of Cultural Sciences Unej, the Department of English Literature chaired by Indah Wahyuningsih, S.S., M.A. invited practitioners who are involved in the creative industry related to creative writing, namely SAMCGI (Creative Group Indonesia) Jakarta, which in this case was directly represented by the Director of SAMCGI himself, Mr Prasetiyo Hermanto or commonly known as Mas Giant. This activity was packaged in Teaching Practitioner Activities with the theme “Empowering You in the Life of Creative Agency to Support Creative Writing Courses” which was held on Saturday, 24 September 2022 at the ISDB Building lt.5 Faculty of Cultural Sciences Unej. In his presentation, Mas Giant said that good creative writing skills will open up opportunities to work in a creative agency as a copy writer, social media strategy, project management, account executive, creative associate, or creative director. Not only that, creative writing is also needed in the world of corporations and government in marketing communication, public relations and community relations positions. If you prefer to work without being tied to an institution, the ability in creative writing can open opportunities to become a content creator, business analyst translator or trainer.
This lecture by practitioners is also a bridge between the academic world and the business and industrial world. In his remarks, Prof. Dr Sukarno, M.Litt, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities of Unej, hoped that students participating in the lecture would really take advantage of the opportunity to learn about how creative writing skills are needed and work in the world of creative agencies. Furthermore, he also said that the involvement of practitioners is the right step so that universities are able to produce graduates who are in accordance with the needs of the business world and the industrial world. The presence of practitioners in the campus environment is also in line with the implementation of Merdeka Belajar launched by the Ministry of Education and Culture, where students are expected to have a competitive advantage so that when they have completed their education, they are truly ready and able to compete in the business world. (Hadi/PKKM2022)