Three additional Australian universities will soon be opening campuses in Indonesia, offering a new generation of Indonesians an opportunity to study at an Australian university in their own country. Following the successful launch of Monash's Jakarta campus in 2022, Western Sydney, Deakin, and Central Queensland universities will open campuses in Indonesia. Anthony Albanese, the prime minister of Australia, and Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia, announced a statement at the Australia-Indonesia annual leaders' summit in Sydney.
“Education has long been a key pillar of the bilateral relationship and a source of warm friendships between our students and young professionals”, Australian government stated nearly 200,000 Indonesian students are enrolled in Australian colleges and universities. “Australia and Indonesia, working together, are committed to meeting the challenges and opportunities of the future”, Albanese stated. The three newly anticipated campuses were welcomed by Han Xiao Zhang, counselor for education and research at the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, and labeled it "another significant step forward" for the two countries collaboration in higher education.
Western Sydney University was recently granted permission to create the Yayasan Foundation, a non-profit organization required before creating an overseas campus. The university declared Surabaya, East Java, to be a city that is “serving the needs of a rapidly developing Indonesian economy” and stated that clearance to open a branch campus there is ‘imminent’. With a specific emphasis on STEM abilities, the envisioned campus will feature degree programs in addition to short courses that are applicable to the workplace. Development on the campus will probably start in the latter part of 2023, pending clearance, with the inaugural enrollment of students scheduled for September 2024. The institution has stated that it anticipates 2,500 students on campus eventually.
“Western Sydney University has a long and proud history of opening up access to higher education for students who have the drive, ambition, and dedication to succeed. Establishing a significant long-term presence in Indonesia is an exciting new chapter in that history”, said Western Sydney University Chancellor, Jennifer Westacott.
“The planned new international campus will create life-changing opportunities for local students to graduate with a globally recognized degree and will support Indonesia in its economic transformation”. The Surabaya campus plans to offer world-class facilities and a technology-rich learning environment, with a focus on entrepreneurship, climate resilience, and sustainability, said WSU vice-chancellor, Barney Glover.
Deakin University's pro-vice-chancellor and vice-president of international, John Molony, notified the institution's intentions to run dual programs in collaboration with Lancaster University in West Java's capital, Bandung. The projected Central Queensland place is less well known, but the institution has been operating a university center in Jakarta since 2019 in collaboration with Bakrie Institution, enabling Indonesian students to get Australian degrees. “From the outset, CQUniversity has worked with the Indonesian government in the spirit of its ambitious tertiary education and job creation plan”, a University spokesperson said.
Australian providers of education and training have an ideal opportunity to assist Indonesia in attaining this ambitious goal of adding 57 million skilled people to its economy by 2030, Zhang said. “Indonesia is growing to be one of the world’s largest economies. As its dynamic and rapidly modernizing economy grows, its human capital and research needs also continue to grow”, Zhang added.
