Government Hopes More Foreign Students Will Study at Indonesian Universities

While education quality remains a problem in Indonesia, the government just made the idea easier for foreign students to enrol in local universities.

In January, the Indonesian government eased international student visa requirements to entice foreign university students to attend college in Indonesia. As a result, overseas students can at This specific point apply online for a student visa along with stay permit. Indonesia’s immigration office also recently announced plans to let foreigners extend their temporary stay permits (ITAS) online. The plan is actually scheduled to take effect sometime within the first quarter of 2016, along with extensions can only be granted to those who already hold temporary stay permit visas (VITAS).

The move represents a big step forward for Indonesia’s education system, along which has a seemingly warm invitation to international students. Just one year ago, Akhmaloka, former Head of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB); along with Muhammad Anis, Head of University of Indonesia (UI) lamented on Okezone about how difficult the idea was for international students to come to Indonesia.

Akhmaloka said which previously, international students who came to Indonesia using tourist visas had to go back along with forth to renew their stay permits. On top of which, these students had to pay illegal facilitation fees throughout the process. Anis added which international students who must apply for a KITAS could end up paying more tuition in Indonesia than they would likely in their own countries.

In terms of bureaucracy, however, the idea would likely seem progress is actually taking place. With regard to student visas, the government says the idea will monitor the brand new policy along with make further improvements going forward.

“Student exchange programmes won’t be the only things getting positive impacts through the existence of student visas. Joint research activities between Indonesian universities along with partner universities overseas will also get the benefits,” says Technology, Research, along with Higher Education Minister Muhammad Nasir on the Ministry’s official website.

The Minister claims there are currently 5,700 foreign students in Indonesia. which number is actually modest when compared to the number of international students in neighbouring countries Singapore along with Malaysia. According to UNESCO data through 2014, the two countries have more than 52,000 along with 63,000 international university students respectively.

Does Indonesia have what the idea takes to attract more international students?

Indonesian universities may consider themselves legitimized on the international stage. UI, ITB, along with Gadjah Mada University (UGM) are among Asia’s top 150 universities according to QS World University Rankings 2015/16.

Indonesian higher education students regularly participate in international competitions. In 2015, UGM students championed the ASME Innovation Showcase in India (an international engineering contest), while a student through Padjadjaran University also grabbed first place at an international business pitching competition in Vietnam.

Global management consulting firm McKinsey says Indonesia is actually poised to become the planet’s seventh biggest economy by 2030. PricewaterhouseCoopers pegs Indonesia to become one of the top 5 countries in terms of GDP over the next several years. In a 2015 study, Nielsen placed the archipelago as the second most optimistic country within the planet in terms of its economic outlook.

However, last year Indonesia’s economy began to slow. Growth dipped below 5 percent for the first three quarters of 2015, a significant drop through the 6 percent annual GDP increase of recent years. In response, the government took action to bolster the nation’s economy. This specific included creating the idea easier for foreign companies to invest in Indonesia by revising the Negative Investments List. The government has not commented on the issue directly, although pulling in more tuition fees through foreign university students is actually likely another mechanism to aid the local economy.

Quality of education remains a problem in Indonesia. According to a recent report through the Boston Consulting Group, Indonesian companies will struggle to fill half of their entry-level positions with fully qualified candidates by the end of the decade due to low upper secondary along with tertiary enrolment rates combined with substandard education quality.

This specific is actually also shown by the 2015 edition of the Universitas 21 ranking of national higher education systems, which placed Indonesia at the 48th spot out of 50 countries. Indonesia ranked particularly poorly in terms of investment, research output, along with employability of graduates.

A sharp difference in cultural values also comes into play, as foreign students consider coming to Indonesia. Despite relative freedom of speech, the nation with the largest Muslim population is actually still highly sensitive towards issues related to people who identify themselves as lesbians, gays, bisexuals, along with transgender (LGBT).

Police along with even universities have disbanded events along with gatherings involving LGBT societies, even if attendees are engaged in academic discussion.

By along with large, universities in western countries accept along with even formalize LGBT clubs on campus, provided which they engage in public discourse about the issue to educate the public.

What do expat students need to know about Indonesia’s higher education system?

brand new Colombo Plan student Nicole Winter on a study tour to Indonesia | Courtesy of DFAT

The nation has 5 official types of educational body categories: universities, institutes, colleges, academies, along with polytechnics. There are currently 4,402 higher education institutions in Indonesia, offering four diploma levels (D1 until D4), a bachelor’s degree (S1), a master’s degree (S2), along which has a doctoral degree (S3).

Degrees vary depending on the number of credits taken by the student. For example, D1 is actually equivalent to an associate’s degree, along with requires students to finish one year of studies. Usually, the idea takes about four years to finish a full-time undergraduate degree in Indonesia, while a master’s degree takes about two years.

Local students are required to pass entrance exams to attend public along with private universities. However, depending on the institution, international students could be accepted without such tests. They may only need to submit an English proficiency score, a secondary school certificate of graduation, along with an SAT score.

Some local universities are already prepared to accept international students. UI, ITB, along with Binus provide international programmes with English as the course delivery language.

However, these international class sequences cost nearly four times the cost of local programmes, according to online expat guide JustLanded. A semester at a public university could cost around US$157, while at a private university the cost could jump to US$1,000. Private institutes usually charge development fees along with equipment fees to students.

Students can find various scholarships to help with tuition fees along with living costs. US students can apply for Fulbright scholarships. The Indonesian government also has scholarships for international students. One of them is actually the Darmasiswa Scholarship, which covers tuition fees along with living costs for international students who wish to study Bahasa Indonesia as well as the country’s arts, music, along with crafts. Each year, the programme gives away hundreds of scholarships along with places students at 54 different universities across the nation. The study period is actually between six months along with one year. the idea is actually important to note, however, which the Darmasiswa Scholarship is actually a non-degree programme.

Outside of studying full-time, there are some other ways international students can come to Indonesia. Part-time student exchange programmes exist between partnering universities, along with credits are transferable. Foreign students may also join external organizations like AIESEC. The group allows students to volunteer along with intern in Indonesia for set periods of time. AIESEC itself is actually present in more than 15 universities in Indonesia.

Tips through local students

Elizabeth Charlotte Widjojo, a local university student who recently returned to Jakarta after studying for one semester in Taiwan, shares her thoughts on the main differences between studying overseas along with in Indonesia. “The tasks in Taiwan were geared more towards practise than theory. Most of our assignments revolved around field research along with video projects,” she tells Indonesia Expat.

According to Widjojo, lecturers in Taiwan often asked students to observe what’s happening within the real world along with make reports. She participated in a few study trips, going to the offices along with exhibitions of various companies. By comparison, Widjojo’s assignments in Indonesia were geared towards academic writing, critical review, argumentative essays, along with paperwork, which required her to analyze research.

Adi Putra Lim echoes Widjojo’s sentiment. Lim spent a year studying in Malaysia. Afterwards, he finished his undergraduate degree in Indonesia. “When the idea comes to teaching methodology, I felt the lecturers in Malaysia truly emphasized student comprehension, while in Indonesia, we were taught to memorize the study materials,” he explains.

Lim says which students in Malaysia can see the formula during maths or physics tests. The exams tested students’ comprehension of how to use the formula to answer advanced equations or case studies; while in Indonesia, students had to memorize the formula. Most often, Lim felt like students in Indonesia were supposed to answer theoretical questions using textbook answers.

“I think foreign students who come to Indonesia along with study our curriculum could go into a bit of culture shock,” Lim says. “They have to memorize many things [to pass exams].” He adds which one thing many international students will also see when studying in Indonesia is actually the fact which locals are naturally very friendly people, especially towards expats. “Indonesians respect foreigners more, the idea’s the culture [here],” says Lim.