Last semester, from February until July 2024, the ACICIS Indonesian Business, Law and Society (IBLS) program welcomed Cosette Grace Craig from the Australian National University and Vlad Shulyak from the University of New England. This IBLS program was hosted by the Islamic University of Indonesia (UII) in Yogyakarta. In this semester’s iteration, both Grace and Vlad were supported by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan (NCP) initiative.
The ACICIS IBLS program allows students to take courses with both Indonesian and international students at UII’s Faculty of Economics and Faculty of Law. This semester, Grace and Vlad both enrolled in the Economics Department. Prior to beginning the semester, Grace and Vlad also undertook a month of intensive Indonesian language training with Cilacs UII.
While studying at UII, Grace and Vlad made efforts to both engage with the local community and also with their fellow ACICIS students, including participating in the second ACICIS field trip to Solo. Grace also connected with fellow UII students by attending an “outbound UII” event. Furthermore, Grace and Vlad both utilised their free time to explore more of Indonesia, with Vlad visiting the beaches of Gunung Kidul, and Grace travelling to West Java and Lombok.
The IBLS program for semester 58 wrapped up with an UII farewell event and ACICIS farewell dinner that was held at the Grand Keisha Hotel, Yogyakarta. Vlad shared some wonderful remarks about his time as an IBLS student, impressing all staff and students by delivering his speech in Bahasa Indonesia. Grace was also awarded the title of “Mbak Asia” during the farewell dinner awards ceremony. ACICIS is incredibly proud of the accomplishments made by both Grace and Vlad this semester. Congratulations and sampai jumpa lagi!