Medan, The Indonesian Social Welfare and Social Work Education Association (ASPEKSI) held a National Seminar with the theme "Synergy of the pillars of social work for the development of social welfare in Indonesia". The seminar, which was held from 3 to 6 December 2024, was attended by representatives from 32 universities that provide social welfare and social work education in Indonesia that are members of ASPEKSI. The seminar was held in the IMT-GT Room of the USU Rector's Office, University of North Sumatra, Medan. This activity will also be continued with the implementation of the 11th Congress of the Indonesian Social Welfare and Social Work Education Association (ASPEKSI) to mark the end of the 2022-2024 management period and the election of the next management period. The Dean of Social and Political Sciences (FISIP) USU in his remarks when opening the seminar stated that prospective graduates from the social welfare and social work study programs are very much needed in society. The Chairperson of ASPEKSI, Prof. Oman Sukmana thanked the Social Welfare Study Program, University of North Sumatra (USU) for being willing to host the seminar and congress.

The Social Welfare Study Program of the Faculty of Da'wah and Communication Sciences, UIN Jakarta sent Ahmad Zaky, M.Si, as the head of the study program and Dr. Siti Napsiyah, MSW, as the Secretary of ASPEKSI to actively participate in this activity.

This activity was carried out to emphasize the position, role and function of the Social Worker Profession in the digital era. As a keynote speaker, Prof. Bambang Shergi Laksmono, Chairman of the Indonesian Social Work Consortium (KPSI) invited seminar participants to think about and reflect on 3 (three) main issues that must be faced by the social worker profession in Indonesia. First, he stated that many professions will be replaced by AI, such as accounting, and others.

Will AI erode the social worker profession? Digital application systems will be able to drive recognition. Identification of social assistance recipient data through digitalization. What is certain is that the social worker profession will not be replaced because the role carried out is related to establishing humanitarian relations. However, he is very optimistic that in the future the social worker profession will not be replaced by Artificial Intelligence. The consequence is the demand for professionalism. This is because a system without capability will be meaningless and will even waste funds.

The second issue is the accountability of human resources (HR) of social workers produced by universities. According to him, the seminar activity attended by social work and social welfare educators is very important to be held as a capacity building in order to prove the accountability of prospective social welfare professions.

The third thing that needs to be discussed further is the phenomenon of the shift in social services being reduced now in the form of social assistance. A large budget for social service programs, social rehabilitation, and social assistance. Don't let the public label us as social assistance distribution officers only.

New Management for the 2024-2027 period Dr. Rudi Darwis, M.Si as chairman and Dr. Siti Napsiyah, MSW, as vice chair 1 conveyed the commitment of the management of this association to provide support for universities that organize social welfare study programs at the State Islamic University (UIN) under the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

The 11th Congress also agreed to change the name of the association to the Indonesian Social Work and Welfare Education Association, abbreviated as APKPSI. This refers to the Decree of the Minister of Law and Human Rights of the Republic of Indonesia Number AHU-0011638.AH.01.07.Year 2022 concerning the Ratification of the Establishment of the Indonesian Social Work and Welfare Education Association.

Asked about the name change, Congress participant Ahmad Zaky, M.Si. said, “If it has been decided and stated in the notary, we will obey the new name”. Likewise, Dr. Urip Wahyudin from Cendrawasih Papua and Juli Astutik from the University of Muhammadiyah Malang simultaneously said, “We must get used to and get used to the new name APKPSI”.