Chinese schools lure more Indonesians
Chinese schools lure more Indonesians
P.C. Naommy, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Like other neighboring countries, China is attempting to
encourage more Indonesian students to study in that country by
holding education exhibitions in two major cities -- Jakarta and
Surabaya.
Shao Wei, deputy director general of the Chinese Service
Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCSE), a unit of the Chinese
Ministry of Education, said here on Saturday that his team was
planning to visit universities in both cities.
"We accept around 2,500 students from Indonesia each year and
now we hope that we can increase the number to 5,000," Shao said
after opening a two-day exhibition called China Education
Exhibition 2004 on Saturday.
A similar exhibition is being held in Surabaya on May 10.
Overseas educational institutions from Singapore, Malaysia,
Australia and Europe have aggressively promoted themselves here.
Almost every year the overseas universities promote their schools
and programs in Jakarta and always attract large audiences.
A survey conducted last year at 36 universities in Australia
revealed that 8,897 Indonesians were enrolled in full-degree
programs there, a 3.2 percent decrease from the previous year.
With 31 universities and three junior and high schools being
promoted, the China education exhibition looks set to compete
with the Western schools. It is the third such exhibition in
Jakarta and first in Surabaya.
Organizing committee member Sudjadi Sudjianto from education
consultancy firm Unilink Professindo said last year's event had
resulted in 3,738 Indonesians deciding to study in China.
Shao claimed that Chinese university graduates were recognized
by more than 20 countries, including the United Kingdom,
Australia, New Zealand and France. "So, graduates of our
universities do get international recognition," said Shao.
He added that at least 77,715 foreign students from 175
countries enrolled in 353 educational institutions in China in
2003.
Indonesian students accounted for 2,563 of these, the fifth
largest number after South Korea with 30,000 students, Japan with
10,000, the United States with 4,000 and Vietnam with 3,000.
Shao also said that China hoped to develop even better
bilateral relations with Indonesia, especially in the fields of
education and culture.
"We want to learn Indonesia's culture from students who take
courses in our country, while they can also learn about China's
culture during their stay there," he said.
China, which has an area of 9.8 million square kilometers, is
the world's most populous country with a population of close to
1.3 billion as of the July 2003 census.
In 1949, up to 95 percent of the country's citizens were
illiterate. Forty years later, however, the country has managed
to develop a strong education sector as reflected in the number
of educational institutions and students.
The latest data shows that China had 946,000 education
institutions in 1995, with the total number of students
standing at 223.7 million.