A coalition of education and public-policy groups is calling for more-substantial higher-education ties between the United States and Indonesia, arguing that "2010 offers the best chance there will ever be for a major United States-Indonesia bilateral initiative on education."
The coalition—which includes the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, the Institute of International Education, the United States-Indonesia Society, and the East-West Center, an education and research organization focused on the Asia-Pacific region—is pressing for more education exchanges, deeper institutional linkages, and greater investment in Indonesia's higher-education infrastructure.
President Obama last month committed to spending $165-million over the next five years on Indonesia-American higher-education programs. But the group says that both public- and private-sector efforts are needed to advance Indonesian higher education.
Specifically, the members, who were part of a delegation that traveled to Indonesia last year, propose a Joint U.S.-Indonesia Council on Higher Education Partnership, which would "engage the energies and resources of the private sector, private and public universities, foundations, and the NGO community in each country, in cooperation with the two governments."
They also call for an increase in the number, quality, and diversity of faculty and student exchanges between the two countries, and propose doubling the number of Indonesians studying in the United States, and tripling the number of Americans studying in Indonesia.
Just 7,500 students from Indonesia studied in the United States during the 2008-9 academic year, down from 13,280 in 1997-98, according to the Institute of International Education. And only 75 Americans studied in Indonesia in 2007-8.
The group also calls for the expansion of U.S.-Indonesia institutional partnerships, particularly for research in areas of global significance and shared concern, and advocates that American colleges work to help their Indonesian counterparts improve educational performance, educate home-country students to an international standard, and attract American students and faculty members in new fields of study.
Despite a sharp uptick in investment by Indonesia's government in higher education, the outlay isn't sufficient to meet the demands of a fast-growing country of 240 million people. As a consequence, Indonesia's college-going rate, 17 percent, lags behind that of its Southeast Asian neighbors, like Malaysia and Thailand, and far behind that of developed countries, like South Korea and the United States.
For their part, American officials say that improving educational opportunity is crucial to the economic growth and political stability of a key ally.
Comments
1. raymond_j_ritchie - July 28, 2010 at 05:58 am
As I said earlier a great idea that is urgently needed. There is a desperate need to counter the islamics who are white-anting the education system in both Malaysia and Indonesia. However, since the US has largely ignored the region for so long there is little personal contact with Indonesian universities and without that progress will be very slow or no progress at all. Nothing happens in SE-Asia if you have not been introduced to them by someone they know.
Find partners in Australia, New Zealand or Singapore to get things started.
Be aware too that Bali is a special enclave allowed to persist because it brings in tourist money. Attitudes to westerners in the rest of Malaysia and Indonesia can be very different and sometimes very hostile, particularly to western women. You need someone to go with you and tell you which places to avoid.