Students exposed to Korean education programs

Taking off from Soekarno Hatta International Airport at 4 p.m. on June 14 in a flight bound for Seoul, I couldn't wait to find out what was waiting for us.

In the past weeks since receiving the invitation from South Korea government to join the 2009 Program for University Students from BRICs and Latin American Countries, we've been quite busy preparing for the trip.

BRICs is an acronym that refers to the fast-growing developing economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China.

There were visits to the Korean embassy to get the program itinerary from helpful staff and to present a gift from the University of Indonesia (UI) to Ambassador Byun Chul Hwan, besides meeting my two fellow UI students and one from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University who would join the trip.

At last we were on our way.

Organized by the National Institute for International Education (NIIED) based in Seoul, Republic of Korea, the 10-day program from June 15 to 25 was to bring together 32 university students from Indonesia, Russia, China, India, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Paraguay and Peru.
We were invited to experience not only Korean university life, but also to know the richly embroidered tapestry of Korean culture: its music, soap opera, cuisine, monuments ancient and modern, calligraphy, state-of-art technology, economy, Tae Kwon Do martial art, its people and so much more.

The NIIED plays a leading role in the development of international education and in fostering South Korea's new educational program to increase the number of overseas students by 2010. By that time it is estimated that the number of scholarships for foreign students will be doubled.

Arriving at Incheon airport in the early morning of June 15, a technological surprise was immediately noticeable, as we took the Incheon subway to the baggage collection area. Seoul's subway system is in fact the eighth largest in the world.

Welcomed at the arrival terminal by Ms. Jung Choon Lee, Deputy Manager of International Cooperation of Yeungnam University, and two student ambassadors, we immediately felt the care, kindness and hospitality that colored the entire program.

As we were carrying miniature Indonesian and Korean flags, a discussion of flag symbolism broke out to kill the time while waiting for other students from Sri Lanka, Brazil and Guatemala to arrive at the airport.

The Korean flag, Taegenkgi, has two contrasting elements of Eum and Yang which symbolize such cosmic forces as tranquility and activity, weakness and strength, darkness and light, male and female, while the red and white of the Indonesian flag symbolize bravery and sacredness.

Along the one-and-a-half hours bus driving from the airport to the NIEED Center in Seoul we got glimpses of city and rural life that confirmed South Korea's place as one of the "Four Asian Tigers".

Her rapid transformation into a developed country during the later half of the twentieth century has been coined as the "Miracle on the Hangang River". It has earned its place among the G20 major economies and similar to Japan and West Germany, it is rapid industrialization since the 1960s that has made South Korea one of the 10 exporters with the second highest saving rate in the developed world.

Significantly, this country has the smallest gap between rich and poor amongst high-income Asian economies.

Today South Korea is classified by the World Bank as a high income economy and capital city Seoul consistently placed among the world's ten financial and commercial cities.

At the welcome ceremony at NIEED Center, we participants felt that South Korea's motto *To broadly benefit mankind' was clearly being expressed through this international program. We learned that the main goal of the program was to foster good relations among nations and so we were expected to learn about the beauty of Korea and would become messenger of peace in our respective countries.

It was a moving reminder of South Korea's history of struggle to achieve peaceful independence, of the efforts of former president Kim Dae-Jung who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000 for his work on democracy and human rights. It is also in line with the ongoing efforts of the current UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, a Korean, to foster peace between the world's nations, to eliminate poverty and to bring primary education to all the world's children by 2015.

Yeungnam University, four hours driving from Seoul, was the host of the whole program which campus became our base for the following days as we attended seminars and excursion to cultural sites.

We also visited South Korea's leading university in science and technology, Postech University, and Hanyang University, one of the first to foster engineering in Korea.

Each day's events were carefully orchestrated to enable us to take part in a wide range of activities from economic seminars to walks through traditional villages and to the glorious Bulguksa Temple in Gyeongju, once the capital of the ancient Silla Kingdom.

One of my favorite activities was learning to play in the Samulnori, a Korean traditional percussion orchestra. My Balinese gamelan experience from high school came in handy and it was thrilling both to learn and to share something from my own beloved Indonesian culture. Music is at once the essence of a culture and the medium through which cultural barriers may be transcended.

While the visit to the Hyundai Motor Company with its own hospital and port facilities enabled us to see the care, innovation and efficiency that has made South Korea a giant in the motor industry, the most meaningful experience of all was being able to stay with a Korean family.

My new friend So Jeong Jung, nicknamed Jenny, is a mechanical engineering student. The extremely competitive education environment and motivated workforce are two key factors driving Korea's knowledge economy and Jenny's determination and dedication will take her far.

I loved going to see the new electric car model being developed by her faculty, and staying with her family was a privilege that I will always cherish. Jenny's parents were teachers just like my own and her grandmother made us special food just like my grandmother does.

Representing many different cultures and faculties from economics and engineering to linguistics and international communication, the Korean student ambassadors and overseas delegates shared the same youthful optimism, good humor and learning spirit of students the world over. Each of us will carry home our own special memories of this deeply rewarding program. To value ourselves and others is surely the essence of respect and the way to make life on earth more peaceful and orderly.

Putu Geniki L. Natih
Student of the Economics Department
University of Indonesia

Forestry student's brainstorm in Bogor

Forestry students from 32 countries got together in Bogor, West Java, to attend the 37th International Forestry Student Symposium (IFSS) from July 27 to Aug. 9.

The 90 students gathered at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture's (IPB) campus to discuss various forestry issues and to initiate reforestation programs.

The students came from Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, France, Finland, Australia, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden, as well as host Indonesia, among other places.

The coordinator of this year's symposium, Akhmad Viko Zakhary Santosa, a Gajah Mada University student, said that the event was jointly organized by his university and the IPB.

Viko said that the symposium was held annually to unite forestry students from the 48 member countries members of the International Forestry Students Association (IFSA). Last year's event was held in Bulgaria.

The meeting was aimed at generating ideas about how to sustain forests, mitigate the impacts of climate change and conserve the Earth's lungs.
The students also inspected a conservation project in Telaga village, which is part of the Kerawang industrial zone and visited a pulp and paper factory in Kerawang regency, Gunung Walat, IPB's education forest in Sukabumi, the Alas Purwo National Park in Yogyakarta and, finally, the Bogor Botanical Gardens.

"Through this international symposium we students want to deliver a message that the challenge and opportunity the Indonesian forests are now dealing with is part of the solution to the global forestry issues.

"The success of global environment preservation depends on forestry management in Indonesia where the government, industries and the people are involved," Viko said.

Julie Venne of Laval University, Canada, said that Indonesia has the world's most beautiful tropical forests and that it was lucky to have such vast areas of forests, but cautioned that they should be protected.

"I also admire the agro forestry in Telaga village," said Julie at the village.

Coordinator of the conservation project, IBG Permana, said the Telaga Village project is the work of 90 companies in the Kerawang International Industry City. Various trees for harvest are planted in a 3-hectare area of the industrial zone, which also features a model training facility for agro forestry, rice and fish cultivation.

University aims to create new middle class

Jakarta's Paramadina University, in cooperation with corporate partners, is offering full scholarships to talented students as it bids to "strengthen society's middle class", says rector Anies Baswedan.

Anies told The Jakarta Post recently that with this "clear vision" in mind, the university had come up with a breakthrough program to draw outstanding students from all over the country.

"A university should serve as the place where people from all walks of life get the education they need to allow them to rise to a higher social class," he said.

Since 2008, the university has been handing out full scholarships under it's Paramadina Fellowship Program (PF) to selected students.
The money - Rp 65 million (US$6,500) for students from Jakarta and Rp 100 million for those from outside the capital - is contributed by 25 corporations and individuals, including state-owned lender Bank Negara Indonesia, tobacco giant PT Djarum, The Jakarta Post and entrepreneur Arifin Panigoro.

"Providing ways for these students to get a quality education will in turn lead them to thrive in life," Anies said.

"The idea is to create a new middle class from those of a lower social class."

Deputy rector Wijayanto said to be accepted for a scholarship, candidates were required to possess an excellent academic record, be talented and have a penchant for organizational activities.

"Our campus has become livelier, students are now more active," he said.

"They're bright and they have become leaders in their classes."

In last year's PF program, Paramadina took in 69 of 1,500 applicants. In 2009, that figure is 72 of 1,800 applicants.

The university is looking to accept 100 applicants for the 2010 academic year.

Wijayanto said it was initially difficult trying to convince corporate partners to invest in the program.

"But we came to them with a clear business plan and explained that in future they would need supplies of graduates with sharp minds and high leadership skills, and that did it," he said.

The sponsorship program then snowballed, he added, with more and more corporations and individuals wanting to take part in it.

"Indonesia has a strong philanthropic character; our people are very generous," Wijayanto said.

He added that under the PF program, donors paid the money up front, allowing the university to invest around 80 percent of it.

"For every Rp 100 million, the university can make Rp 25 million after a four-year investment," he said.

"That money then goes into our endowment fund."

Anies said the program, the first of its kind in the country, would no longer need sponsors after eight to 10 years.

"We are very open to other universities, private or public, coming to us to learn about this program and copy it," he said.

He pointed out older universities had their own source of as-yet untapped funding.

"For years on end, these universities churn out graduates who've become successful thanks to their education; it's time they pay back and donate some money for their juniors' education," Anies said.

Most importantly, he went on, universities had to have their own endowment funds to finance scholarships.

Wijayanto said he hoped with the PF program, Paramadina could produce quality graduates who could compete in the global environment.