On Tuesday 13th October, the Australian Consortium for ‘In-Country’ Indonesian Studies (ACICIS) held a 20th anniversary cocktail event at Parliament House, Canberra.
The evening was attended by ACICIS alumni from 1995 through to 2015, ACICIS National Reference Group members, member university representatives and Pro-Vice Chancellors, representatives from DFAT, Members of Parliament, Senators, as well as the Indonesian Ambassador and his staff.
ACICIS Consortium Director, Professor David T. Hill AM, opened the evening with his address ‘ACICIS Study Indonesia: Looking Back, Moving Forward’, giving a brief summary of the history of the Consortium and announcing some exciting new developments that will emerge over the next few years. He also took the opportunity to officially announce the upcoming relocation of the ACICIS Perth Secretariat from Murdoch University to The University of Western Australia early next year.
Indonesian Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Bapak Nadjib Riphat Kesoema, followed Professor Hill, discussing the importance of the bilateral relationship between Australia and Indonesia and the vital role people-to-people links play in this relationship.
In his newly appointed role as Minister for International Education, Senator Richard Colbeck also took the opportunity to congratulate ACICIS on 20 years of assisting Australians to study in Indonesia and spoke of the significant role ACICIS plays in Australia’s most important regional relationship and the support the Consortium provides New Colombo Plan Scholars and mobility grant recipients.
Speeches for the evening were concluded by ACICIS inaugural alumnus, Mr Jeremy Stringer (Semester 1/Aug 1995), who is currently the Assistant Director, Development Partnerships for DFAT. Mr Stringer reminisced warmly about his time as a student in Indonesia with ACICIS and acknowledged the many opportunities that the program opened up for him.
Thank you to everyone who joined us on the evening to celebrate!
Click here to view a photo gallery of the event.
