Universities as higher education institutions have the obligation to conduct research and perform community services. Service-Learning is a program which has a positive impact on students' attitude towards community engagement. In Indonesia there are some communities living below the poverty line. One of them is a community living in villages in Sumba Tengah Regency, the Province of NTT. Although they live in poverty, they have potential that can be explored to improve their welfare. The faculty of architecture and design, Duta Wacana Christian University manages the International Field School and Thematic Service-Learning Program (IFSTS-L) for students who are interested in conducting service-learning directly from the communities. Through the IFSTS-L the students are able to practice their knowledge learned from the University to empower the marginalized community. Besides, the students can also collaborate with fellow students from Australian National University in order to help the community and at the end they are able to make reflections for their lives in the future.
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Based on Law No. 12, Year 2012, Article 1 Paragraph 7, every university must carry out the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi (the university’s three main responsibilities of education) which contents teaching, research and community service.(Presiden_Republik_Indonesia, 2012) Duta Wacana Christian University (UKDW) implements one of the Tri Dharma Perguruan Tinggi which is a community service program through Service- Learning. This is a community empowerment program that involves academician from the university, community and other stakeholders.(Hawes et al., 2021) Service - Learning activities conducted at UKDW are International Field School and Thematic Service - Learning (IFSTS-L). The activity of IFSTS-L is collaboration work among students from Australian National University (ANU) and Duta Wacana Christian University (UKDW) with community living in the villages.(Nickols et al., 2013)
Service-Learning (S-L) is a teaching method developed by John Dewey with the name “experiential learning”. (Dewey, 1948) He said in his book “Experience and Education” that:
Education in order to accomplish its ends both for the individual learner and for society must be based upon experience-which is always the actual life-experience of some individual
The Service - Learning Method is a new educational method in Chicago in 1903, which balances the needs of students who want to go to the field with the needs of the community groups involved. (Halim et al., 2019) Through Service - Learning, students are motivated to solve problems, understand and consider what they can do for society, learn how they can serve others, and focus their life goals.(Warren, 2012) Additionally, Service - Learning also strengthens students with a sense of social responsibility to become more confident, more trusted and credible, as well as to combine leadership potential with compassion. (Bawole, 2013)
Service - Learning as an alternative approach in planning and design can be applied in every discipline or field of work, including Architecture and regional planning.(Bielefeldt et al., 2010) By learning the characteristic of settlements and their socio-cultural life, students can serve the community with their knowledge in order to improve their quality of life and surrounding environment.(Thomson et al., 2011) There is no community service program without involving Faculties, Students and the Community, because their involvement is a pre-requisite for implementing a good Service - Learning program. (Bawole, 2019)
The activities of Service-Learning Program are very different when compared to Community Service Programs and Internship Programs carried out at an institution. In the Community Service program, the beneficiary (Community) will receive more benefits, while students will work more as volunteers. Meanwhile, in the Internship program, student study and work more at the institution where the student interns. In Internship program the transfer of knowledge from students to internship institutions is relatively small. In Service - Learning program, students and beneficiaries (local people) work together on a certain project and they teach each other to carry out the project. When students provide services to the community, at the same time they will learn something from the community. Conversely, when students gain knowledge from the community, they also actively contribute to serving the community where the program is conducted. In accordance with this concept, the IFSTS-L program was jointly carried out by students from the ANU and UKDW.
IFSTS-L is a routine activity carried out at UKDW related to the community service program held every year. IFSTS-L has been carried out since 2009 in the city of Yogyakarta. In 2013 IFSTS-L was carried out in several small islands near the city of Tobelo - North Halmahera and the next program in 2014 was carried out in remote villages in the Loloda Sub-District, West Halmahera Regency. Whereas in 2015 IFSTS-L activities were carried out in the area of Rote Ndao Regency, Nusa Tenggara Timur Province.