Lowokwaru (malangkota.go.id) – Civil Engineering students from the National Institute of Technology (ITN) Malang who are members of the Spectra Doa Ortu Team will compete internationally in the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Bridge Design Competition (BDC) 2025 which will be held at Nanyang Technological University Singapore on Saturday-Sunday, April 12-13, 2025.
The team consists of two outstanding students, namely Legat Bestari from the 2021 class and Stevan Joseph Tuhuleruw from the 2022 class. Their departure to Singapore was accompanied by their supervising lecturer, Krisna Febrian Anugerahputra, ST., MT., M.Sc.
ITN Malang Rector, Awan Uji Krismanto, ST, MT, Ph.D., Wednesday (9/4/2025) expressed his pride and appreciation for the achievements of Civil Engineering students. According to him, this is a very good initiative. Regardless of the results later, qualifying for the international level is already a source of pride for the institution.
NTU BDC 2025 is a prestigious international competition that challenges students to apply their engineering and design skills to develop innovative bridge structures that provide solutions to real-world problems.
This annual competition is organized by Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE) NTU Singapore Student Club, and will certainly provide hands-on and practical experience in industry-relevant bridge structure design.
A total of 172 teams from various countries such as Malaysia, India, Vietnam, Indonesia, and others participated in the preliminary round of BDC 2025. ITN Malang itself sent two teams, but only the Spectra Doa Ortu team managed to qualify for the final round. They managed to beat their competitors and become one of 70 teams that will compete in Singapore, including several teams from other universities in Malang such as UMM, UB, and UM.
Legat Bestari said that in the preliminary round, his team was asked to complete a case scenario of designing a vehicle bridge that is laterally centered on a highway. They used Bridge Designer 2016 software provided by the committee to design a structurally optimal bridge.
The preliminary round selection itself was carried out in March 2025. "During the preliminary round, we made a model of an arch bridge directly on the with . The assessment is based on four parameters, namely economic feasibility, structural efficiency, environmental sustainability, and homogeneity," he explained.
After passing the selection, they have about a month to prepare for the final round. They practice making bridge models from balsa wood a lot. He added that case studies for the final round will only be given during the competition. The assessment criteria include economic aspects, bridge strength testing, and aesthetics.
Legat himself has had experience participating in national bridge competitions and successfully making it to the final round. However, for Stevan Joseph Tuhuleruw this is the first time he has made it to the finals, and straight to the international level. "I feel very happy and proud, from being a nobody to being able to participate in a competition abroad. It never crossed my mind before," said the student from Ambon.
Furthermore, Stevan explained that in addition to the preparation of assembling the bridge, a significant difference with the competition in Indonesia may lie in the testing and dimensions of the bridges that will be competed. This competition is the first time it is held offline, because previously it was always online. Later, the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be selected, as well as the consolation and best design nominations.
“For training we follow Terms of Reference (TOR) bridge competition that is often used in Indonesia. We hope to win, at least to bring home the category champion title," he hoped.
Krisna, as the supervising lecturer, said that the sudden announcement of the competition had made preparations tight. However, the study program still tried to ensure that the team could depart. Although in the end one member, Daniel Juanito Tolan, failed to depart because his passport was not ready. According to him, this was the first time for ITN Malang Civil Engineering students to qualify for the international finals. This opportunity is very valuable and may not be repeated.
“The competition case will be explained and given during the final. We don’t know how it will be, but what is certain is that the ability to think quickly, stay calm, and plan well according to the time provided will be assessed. Everything will be made spontaneously during the final,” explained Krisna.
Krisna added, in theory the ability to assemble balsa bridges has often been trained by the team. The main challenge they think about is how to respond to the new case study that will be given in the final round. "Later in the final, they will be given four hours to design manually on paper, and make a bridge prototype," he concluded. (say/hmsitn/yn)
