News and Opportunities
Education outreach program promotes Australia in Pontianak
19 Dec 2012
An Austrade-led education outreach program was delivered in Pontianak from
10–12 October 2012, as part of a series of activities promoting Australian education in regional cities beyond Jakarta. Austrade worked with Australian alumni to visit local Pontianak universities and senior high schools, and hosted a networking function for key education stakeholders.
Pontianak, the capital city of West Kalimantan province, has a large number of students studying in Australia in the vocational education and training (VET) sector.
The outreach program included various activities, including presentations on studying in Australia and the Australia Awards, at the University of Tanjungpura, University of Muhammadiyah and Polytechnic State of Pontianak, delivered by Austrade and an Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) scholar.
The University of Tanjungpura has existing international relationships with education institutions from the US, China and Malaysia, and are keen to explore areas for collaboration with Australia. Areas of potential collaboration include:
- pursuing student and lecturer exchanges
- joint research programs
- establishing an ‘Australian Corner’ within the student information centre.
Austrade and seven Australian education institutions took part in an agent exhibition attended by over 200 students and parents seeking counselling with university representatives. Most queries were related to the Australia Awards and Australian VET programs. In 2011, around 160 students from West Kalimantan studied in VET programs. The US and UK also participated in the agent exhibition.
Together with UTS:Insearch, Austrade also visited and delivered MyFuture workshops to students at St Paulus Senior High School and Immanuel Christian Senior High School, both prominent schools in Pontianak. Immanuel Christian Senior High School currently has an international collaboration program with the US government, which allocates native speaking teachers to the school to assist teachers and students with improving their English. Every year about 10 students from Immanuel Christian Senior High School study in Australia, mostly through pathway programs.
Austrade sought to engage with alumni during the program, organising a dinner networking function. There are more than 50 Australian alumni in Pontianak, including both scholarship and self-funded students. Several alumni are employed as lecturers at local universities and as public officials in local government offices.
Austrade will continue to deliver education outreach programs to regional cities to explore education and training opportunities, and to strengthen the position of Australia as a destination for further education. Outreach is a key part of Austrade’s ongoing program to position Australian education and training capability in major cities outside Jakarta.
For further information or to participate in similar future programs, Australian education providers should contact Ms Selvia Tanggara, Education Manager, Austrade Jakarta, or Ms Sovi Arinta, Business Development Manager, Austrade Jakarta.
Year 10 and 11 students at SMU St Paulus Pontianak accompanied by school principal, Mr Valencius Ngardi, Ms Selvia Tanggara (Education Manager, Austrade Jakarta), Ms Stefani Sugiarto (UTS:Insearch) and Ms Lenny (Student Counsellor at SMU St Paulus Pontianak).
Mr Urai Salam (Australian Development Scholarship recipient), Mr Hendry Yanto (Vice Rector I, Universitas Muhammadiyah), Ms Yuni and Ms Selvia Tanggara (Education Manager, Austrade Jakarta)