STUDY IN INDONESIA

Studying in Indonesia presents a number of unique opportunities. The country's rich cultural heritage and diverse population make it an excellent place to explore the art, music, history, literature, and culture of the region. Indonesia offers some excellent institutions including the University of Indonesia, one of the country's oldest universities, which today boasts over 30,000 Indonesian and international students. The Institut Teknologi Bandung offers a variety of mathematics, science, and engineering degrees and a language center with courses in Bahasa Indonesia.

Distinguished by its unique geographical characteristic, Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world, situated in Southeastern Asia on the equator between the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean and is composed of 17,508 islands, some nothing more than tiny outcroppings of barren rock, others as big as California or Spain and covered in dense tropical jungle. Approximately 6,000 of these islands are inhabited, with five main islands and 30 smaller archipelagos serving as home to the majority of the population. Around half of the country's population lives on the island named Java, which is one of the world's most densely populated areas.

The strategic position of Indonesia has led to fascinating and complex cultural, religious, political and economic history. From the 7th through 14th centuries, Indonesia's early history was dominated by some big kingdoms on the islands of Sumatera and Java. Hinduism and Buddhism were very influential during that time until the collapse of those kingdoms and the introduction of Islam by Arab traders from Gujarat, India and the Middle East. Islam remains the major religion today, making Indonesia the most populous Muslim-majority nation in the world.

The arrival of the Dutch in the 17th century brought European influence to the islands, which continued through the 20th century. The year 1945 signaled the end of the Second World War and the start of true independence for Indonesia. With major changes in global consciousness about the concepts of freedom and democracy, Indonesia proclaimed its independence on August 17 of that same year. Since 1998, the country has experienced some significant steps in its political journey, and today, Susilo Bambang Yudoyono is the President. He was elected in 2004 through the first direct presidential election in the country, and re-elected in 2009.

The country is rich in natural resources. It has extensive supplies of crude oil, natural gas, tin, copper, and gold. With its beautiful islands, staggering volcanoes, exquisite beaches, inspiring temples, and unique ethnicity, tourism is also a significant contributor to Indonesia's economy. In recent years a number of steps have been taken to promote and stimulate non-oil exports which include handicrafts, textiles, precious metals, tea, tobacco, cement, fertilizers as well as manufactured goods. Unfortunately, parts of Indonesia, particularly the Aceh region, were hard hit by the tsunami of December 2004. Thousands of lives were lost, and the damage was extensive. Students should consult with their adviser to determine any places in the country that may be inadvisable study destinations.

Indonesia's capital city, Jakarta, is a large, bustling and modern metropolis. Located on Java, it is the heart of Indonesia's industry, business and trade, as well as its political center. The cosmopolitan city also offers some of Indonesia's best shopping and sightseeing and high quality entertainment and cultural attractions. A popular destination for study abroad students is the island of Bali. As a predominately Hindu island, Bali offers students a look at the diverse religious and cultural influences of Indonesia and the opportunity to be immersed in the rich cultural and artistic heritage of Bali.

Indonesia is blessed with a rich and diverse mix of traditional cultures and art forms. Social life, as well as rites of passage, is stepped in ancient traditions and customs, or "adat" laws, which differ from area to area. Religious influences on communal life vary from island to island and village to village, depending on local history. Art forms in Indonesia are not only derived from folklore, as in many other parts of the world. Many were developed in the courts of former kingdoms, as in Bali, where they are integral elements of religious ceremonies. The famous dance dramas of Java and Bali are derived from Hindu mythology and often feature fragments from the Ramayana and Mahabharata Hindu epics. Wayang kulit shadow puppet theater shows also display mythological events which have long been interesting for foreigners.

Indonesia is a challenging yet rewarding study abroad destination whether you are looking to study art, culture, history, religion, or a variety of other areas. Explore the possibilities.

Representatives from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt and Nigeria are visiting Indonesia to see how this country’s Islamic schools, or madrassas, successfully manage to combine religious education with rigorous, high-quality secular schooling.

The four countries are members of the E-9, a grouping of nine densely populated developing countries that continue to grapple with child and adult literacy goals and which hope to boost literacy levels through the Global Education for All program, which is administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco).

Under the scheme, Indonesia, along with Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan, have committed to improving education standards and eliminating illiteracy. more...

Students of the Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB) started producing instant corn noodle to alleviate malnutrition-related health problems and the product won the international food technology contest.

Galih Nugroho, Ari Try Purbayanto, Riza Aris Apriady, Kamalita Pertiwi and Catherine Haryasyah produced instant corn noodle which has been fortified with various microorganism.

They presented their 6-page paper on the innovation at the IFP Annual Meeting and Food Expo organized by the Institute of Technologists in the United States. Their innovation ranked third in the competition, after the Netherlands and South Africa.

"We're so excited. It's a tough competition but we know we were ready to compete and we knew we could compete as we've prepared at our utmost," Galih said.

"We have done some research about many health problems in Southeast Asia countries and we found that there are still many cases about food nutrition deficiency. So we decided to take this as our case," said the eight semester student at IPB's food technology study.

To make it more specific, he said, the group focused on food nutrition deficiency in pregnant women as most cases were found in them.

"They are the medium to carry the micro nutrition for their future babies," he said. Through the product, Galih said, the mothers-to-be could consume a lot of nutrition up to three times a week which were important during pregnancy.

Corn noodle was first brought on to research table in 1998 with several researchers from IPB involved in the project.

To make the noodle, the team use corn flour and mixed it with protein-fortified egg flour and add to it several nutrition. Next, the dough is undergoing an extrusion process, a process to create a certain texture by pressing all materials.

The production takes around one-and-a-half to two hours.

"The process is not that hard, the ingredients are affordable so that the price of the noodle is also affordable," said Galih, adding that its economical side was one of the reasons they won the contest.

The other considerations were because they make the full use of local resources, the technology can be easily used by people, and of their free-preservative but full of protein product.

Although the five have got international acknowledgement for the innovation, further research is still needed to optimize the instant corn noodle before it hits the market. "We hope with this, the death of pregnant women suffering from malnutrition can be decreasing."

Minister of Agriculture Anton Apriyantono said during a recent ceremony to honor the achievement that the government was encouraging industry players to adopt the new technology so that the product could be soon available in the community.

Source: The Jakarta Post (19/07/2009)