UNM Data Science Graduate's Research Published in Q1 International AI Journal

Universitas Nusa Mandiri (UNM), a Digital Business Campus, has again achieved international recognition. This time, the proud accomplishment comes from its Data Science Study Programme, following the success of one of its graduates, Desi Masdin Dama, who published her final project research in the reputable Q1 international journal Artificial Intelligence and Applications. The scientific article, titled ‘Fine-Tuning IndoBERTa for Indonesian Digital News Sentiment Classification’, serves as evidence that student academic work does not merely fulfil graduation requirements but can also make a tangible contribution to the advancement of science and technology on a global scale. This publication simultaneously demonstrates the quality of education and research continuously developed by Universitas Nusa Mandiri in producing competitive digital talent ready to face the challenges of the artificial intelligence (AI) era. Desi’s research focused on developing an IndoBERTa-based AI model to improve the accuracy of sentiment classification in Indonesian-language digital news. The research arose from the need for a sentiment analysis model more relevant to the characteristics of news language, which tends to be formal and complex, differing from the social media data widely used in similar studies. Together with a research team, Desi collected and annotated approximately 1,300 national news articles, then fine-tuned the IndoBERTa model. The result was a model capable of achieving an accuracy rate of up to 98 percent, whilst overcoming the adaptation gap between social media data and digital news data. This success was also supported by experience gained through the Internship Experience Program (IEP), a flagship programme of Universitas Nusa Mandiri with a scheme of three years of study and one year of industry internship. During the programme, Desi interned as a Data Analyst for Business Development Service at PT Sadhana Ekapraya Amitra. This industry experience strengthened her data analysis capabilities, problem-solving skills, and understanding of data utilisation in business decision-making, which later became important provisions for completing her research. ‘The internship programme provided real experience in processing and analysing data to solve problems in the industrial world. That experience greatly helped me when conducting research and developing artificial intelligence-based solutions,’ said Desi. She added that publishing in a Q1 international journal was an invaluable experience in honing research skills whilst broadening academic horizons at a global level. ‘This research taught me that artificial intelligence technology must be built based on real needs. We sought to present a solution that can help understand public sentiment through digital news more accurately,’ Desi stated. Interestingly, the research results did not stop at scientific publication. The developed model has been implemented into a real-time news analysis system that has the potential to support the development of Natural Language Processing (NLP) research in Indonesia. The Head of the Data Science Study Programme at Universitas Nusa Mandiri, Tati Mardiana, appreciated the achievement as tangible proof of the success of a curriculum that integrates academic learning, industry experience, and needs-based research. ‘The publication of a final project in a Q1 journal shows that our Data Science students are not only capable of completing their academic studies but also of producing quality scientific work that makes a real contribution to the advancement of science and technology. This also proves the effectiveness of the Internship Experience Program in preparing students to face global challenges,’ said Tati in a press release received on Tuesday (16/6/2026). According to Tati, through a learning scheme that combines academic and industry experience, students are able to connect theory with real practice, thereby producing relevant and impactful innovations. ‘As a Digital Business Campus, UNM remains committed to providing a learning ecosystem that encourages the birth of superior, innovative, and internationally competitive digital talent. Desi Masdin Dama’s achievement is proof that the integration of education, industry experience, and research can produce graduates ready to bring Indonesia’s work to compete on the world stage,’ she said.