An Indonesian consortium of six universities is offering scholarships to Cambodian graduate students to further their studies at universities in Indonesia. The fields of cooperation between the two countries include politics, socio-culture and education, economics and defence.
The offering of the scholarships came along with the renewed development of relations between the two countries, which have forged diplomatic ties since 1957. The two nations signed a Treaty of Friendship in February 1959.
The Indonesian embassy said in a March 28 press release that Indonesian higher education institutions are cooperating with Cambodia in the field of education with the aim of improving its human resource potential.
“Several universities in Indonesia collaborate with universities in Cambodia. Recently, six universities promoted higher education by offering full scholarships to Cambodian students,” it said.
The embassy said it had collaborated with a consortium of six universities in Indonesia – Atma Jaya Catholic University of Indonesia; BINUS University; Petra Christian University; Universitas Andalas; Universitas Islam Indonesia; and Universitas Padjadjaran.
BINUS University, as a coordinator of this consortium, held an online event on March 12 to promote Indonesian higher education to Cambodian students under the theme “Learning Digital and Social Entrepreneurship”.
Through the meeting – attended by around 150 – students got a glimpse of digital and social entrepreneurship from Indonesian academics and industry figures, as well as government spokespeople, while finding out which universities might match their own interests, it said.
In order to promote the event, the embassy invited several high schools and well-known universities in Cambodia to attend.
“Their attendance shows the interest they have in the scholarships the consortium is offering,” it added.
Ros Soveacha, spokesman for the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport, told The Post on March 29 that friendly nations like Indonesia play an important part in promoting the quality of the Kingdom’s human capital by providing scholarship opportunities.
He said these opportunities align with the principles of global citizenship education, which aims to make students at all levels global citizens who will develop knowledge, skills and values in response to national, regional and global contexts.
“The ministry welcomes and appreciates positive cooperation from all stakeholders. Providing scholarship opportunities like this contributes to education reform,” he said.
