Coordinating Minister: Indonesia-Saudi Arabia to Drive Educational Collaboration

The Coordinating Minister for Human Development and Cultural Affairs, Pratikno, stated that Indonesia and Saudi Arabia have discussed several programmes that can be implemented immediately to strengthen cooperation in the field of education.

“We discussed several things that we can do immediately, particularly for higher education institutions, such as student exchanges, lecturer exchanges, joint supervision, joint degrees, and joint research,” said the Minister.

This was conveyed by the Minister during a meeting with the Saudi Arabian Minister of Education, Yousef Abdullah Al-Bienyan, alongside several cabinet ministers and university rectors, at the residence of the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to Indonesia, Faisal Abdullah Al Amoudi, in Jakarta on Wednesday evening.

In addition to higher education, he noted that both countries also discussed educational programmes and capacity building for teachers, including scholarship programmes. “Therefore, in a short period, scholarships will also be opened immediately,” he said.

“I would remind you that we have more than 1,000 scholarships from our government for the Indonesian government. So far, perhaps only 50 per cent have been utilised, and the remainder can be used through our programme,” he added.

He further noted that Saudi Arabia possesses approximately 15 universities ranked among the best in the world. Furthermore, five Saudi universities are within the global top 100, and three to five universities occupy the top 10 positions worldwide.

Regarding scholarships, Ambassador Faisal also stated that the 1,000 scholarships are available for all fields of study.

“The Saudi Arabian government provides approximately 1,000 scholarships for Indonesian students wishing to pursue further studies. It is open to all fields,” he said.