ACICIS Study Indonesia receives $2.1 million in 2016 New Colombo Plan Funding
YOGYAKARTA – Friday, August 28, 2015. The Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan will again support a significant scaling-up of study abroad to Indonesia through the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS), with the announcement of over $2.1 million awarded to the consortium in the latest funding round.
Through ACICIS, Australian university students will now have the opportunity to study public health and creative arts and design in Indonesia as a result of this latest funding announcement.
The third funding round of New Colombo Plan provides $20 million in short-term and semester-long mobility grants for Australian undergraduate students undertaking study in 28 Indo-Pacific locations in 2016-2017.
In the 2016 funding round, ACICIS was successful in securing a total of 448 mobility grants, as well as 97 additional internship grants. These grants will support students from the consortium’s 22 Australian member universities to undertake study and internships in Indonesia in a wide range of disciplines. The latest funding will underwrite the launch – in late 2016 and early 2017 – of two new ACICIS short-course study options in Indonesia, specifically, an Indonesian Public Health Study Tour and a Creative Arts and Design Professional Practicum.
The consortium’s 2016 New Colombo Plan funding allocation will also support the continued development and scaling-up of ACICIS’ Business Professional Practicum in Jakarta and the consortium’s Agriculture, Food Science and Resource Management Semester Program, both established with the support of 2014 and 2015 New Colombo Plan funding respectively.
As the consortium celebrates its 20th anniversary in Indonesia this week, ACICIS Resident Director, Ms Elena Williams, expressed her delight with the latest New Colombo Plan funding announcement.
“New Colombo Plan funding has been enormously beneficial to ACICIS and its member university students, supporting as it has, the consortium’s work of opening new doors into Indonesian universities for Australian students”, Ms Williams said. “This latest New Colombo Plan funding”, she added, “will enable ACICIS to continue opening up new avenues for in-country study for students from disciplines outside the consortium’s traditional strengths in the humanities and social sciences.” “With our Agriculture program being ACICIS’ first foray into the physical sciences, we are very excited to be developing study options in public health, and in creative arts and design, and giving Australian students from these disciplinary backgrounds the chance to understand Indonesia”, Ms Williams emphasised.
Professor David Hill AM, ACICIS’ founder and Director, was likewise delighted with the funding announcement and believes it shows the Australian Government’s confidence in the consortium approach and ACICIS’ twenty years of experience facilitating student study abroad experiences in Indonesia.
“It is fitting that in our twentieth year we are expanding our suite of professional practica in Jakarta and also scaling up our non-traditional programs in development studies, international relations and Islamic business, law and society,” said Professor Hill. “We hope that with an increasing number of Australian students studying in Indonesia, and an expanding suite of programs open to more students, bilateral relations will continue to improve.”
Under the New Colombo Plan, ACICIS student numbers have increased 35 per cent. This year alone, the consortium has supported almost 200 students to study in Yogyakarta, Bandung, Jakarta, and Malang – around half of whom were funded through the New Colombo Plan.
Click here for a PDF of the media release.
The Australian Consortium for In-Country Indonesian Studies known as ACICIS (pronounced “Ah-Chee-Chis” as an Indonesian would) has been opening doors to tertiary institutions throughout Indonesia since 1994, offering a range of study options and in-country support to help students gain invaluable first-hand experience of one of the richest and most diverse countries in the world. For more information, please visit: www.acicis.edu.au
For further media comment, please contact:
Ms Janelle May
ACICIS Secretariat Officer:
+62 812 3972 1108
+61 8 9360 6254