The Master of Informatics Study Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang, has once again demonstrated its commitment to enhancing global-standard academic quality. This was evidenced by the successful international thesis proposal examination conducted by one of its students, Adila Qurrota A’yun (Student ID/NIM: 250605210017). The student excellently presented her innovative research design, which highly aligns with contemporary technological developments, before a panel of internal and international external examiners.

During the examination, Adila Qurrota A’yun presented her thesis proposal titled “Image-Based Growth Phase Classification of Melon Plants Using a Hybrid Convolutional Neural Network-Multilayer Perceptron.” This research focuses on developing an intelligent system in the field of smart farming to automatically classify five growth phases of melon plants—namely early vegetative, late vegetative, flowering, fruiting, and harvesting—utilizing CCTV images within a hydroponic greenhouse environment. This innovation is expected to overcome the limitations of conventional manual and subjective monitoring, while simultaneously serving as a tangible implementation of theological reflection on Quranic verses regarding the significance of observing plant growth stages.

This pre-proposal was completed under the guidance of an expert lecturer from UIN Malang, Dr. Ir. Yunifa Miftachul Arif, S.ST., M.T., SMIEEE. As a supervisor, she provided strategic direction, methodological input, and in-depth technical guidance on the integration of artificial intelligence in supporting agricultural production efficiency. Thanks to this intensive guidance, this draft proposal is able to present a solid theoretical foundation and hybrid conceptual framework for accurately evaluating the performance of the CNN-MLP model.

This international-scale proposal examination proceeded dynamically under the evaluation of a highly competent board of examiners. Serving as Examiner 1 was Dr. Ir. Fresy Nugroho, ST., MT, IPM, who provided a thorough evaluation concerning the system engineering aspects and the proposed research methodology. He offered several critical notes to ensure that the implementation of the designed detection and classification model possesses high scientific validity and can be practically applied in modern agricultural fields.

The international atmosphere of the examination was further enhanced by the presence of Examiner 2, Assoc. Prof. Ts. Dr. Norizan Mat Diah, a prominent academic from the Faculty of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Shah Alam, Malaysia. Dr. Norizan, who possesses deep expertise in Computer Vision and Predictive Analytics, contributed a global perspective and valuable feedback regarding the development of the deep learning architecture used. Her involvement as an international examiner not only tested the rigor of the student’s research but also strengthened the international research collaboration network between UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang and UiTM Malaysia.

Completing the board of examiners, Prof. Dr. H. Triyo Supriyatno, M.Ag., Ph.D., served as Examiner 3, reviewing the proposal from the perspective of integrating science and Islamic values, which constitutes the primary characteristic of UIN Malang. The execution of this international proposal examination serves as clear evidence of the strategic steps taken by the Master of Informatics Study Program at UIN Maulana Malik Ibrahim Malang toward achieving international recognition. The success of this examination is expected to motivate other postgraduate students to continually produce innovative, integrative, and globally competitive scientific works.