Dual Degree Program: Another option for a world-class education

Debbie A. Lubis, Contributor, Jakarta

Studying overseas remains the best way for high-school graduates to further their studies and get world-class education.

However, the increase in the number of universities applying international standards to their educational programs gives high school graduates more affordable options.

A number of private universities -- Universitas Pelita Harapan (UPH), the Swiss German University (SGU) and the Gandhi Institute of Business and Technology (GIBT) -- have for years run their programs in line with international standards.

UPH offers undergraduate and post-graduate programs in cooperation with prestigious universities from several countries including Japan, the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

GIBT offers international standards in its bachelor business, IT and marketing communication programs in cooperation with Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Australia.

Besides using English as the language of instruction, such "national-plus" universities have hired international teachers as part of their partnership with overseas universities.

Acquiring degrees from world-class educational institutes without leaving Indonesia is also possible, with several educational institutions offering dual degree programs.

University Indonesia (UI), one the most prestigious state universities in the country, offers international classes for its undergraduate programs in medicine, economics, engineering and psychology in cooperation with prestigious universities from Australia such as the University of Queensland, Monash University and the University of Melbourne.

In addition, UI also offers a post-graduate program on economics and infrastructure management in collaboration with the Australian National University.

Through the double-degree program, students can receive certificates from a local university along with those from partner universities abroad. The students can also experience the academic rigor of these foreign universities for a particular time.

The International Undergraduate Program (IUP) at Bina Nusantara University (UBiNus), for example, offers dual degree programs in accounting, computer science, information systems, and marketing, in cooperation with Curtin University of Technology and The Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT).

The students are entitled to receive two certificates, one from UBiNus and another from its overseas partners. Using a nationally and internationally accredited curriculum, the program applies "3+1" learning mechanism. The students are required to spend three years of studying at IUP UbiNus in Jakarta and a year in one of the partner universities in Australia.

"We see an increasing demand every year since we opened the program in 2001 for computer science ... However, due to high requirements and limited subjects, we cannot admit all prospective students," IUP program director Abi Jabar said. Five- hundred students have joined this dual degree program since it began, he said.

All the materials, presentation and lectures at IUP programs are delivered in English. Therefore, the prospective students are required to have TOEFL score above 550 or IELTS of a minimum 6.5, and TWE score above 3.5. Those who have a TOEFL score above 500 but below 550 are offered to join the pre-university English course for a 20-day period -- 100 hours at five hours a day.

The students who pass the admission test with a grade one- certification then pay Rp 49 million for the first year of study while those with grade two pay Rp 55.5 million.

For the subsequent years, the fees vary based on the chosen major and exclude fees for the partner university. In general, the students should expect to pay Rp 27.5 million a year.

Universitas Tarumanegara offers a dual degree for MM-MBA (Magister Manajemen-Master's of Business Administration) program. The program that lasts about 18 months does not require students to study in Australia. Using an Australian curriculum, all lectures in the program are delivered in English and half of the lecturers come from Australia.

Students who have taken 12 subjects are entitled to MBA degree from the University of Western Australia and if they complete a thesis, they will receive MM degree from Tarumanegara University.

Those who have completed four subjects then have the option of continuing their studies in partner universities in Australia, Singapore, Manila and Shanghai.

The university also has business links that can channel its professional alumni to reputable companies. "We are very selective in choosing the candidates, therefore not all prospective students who join the admission test are accepted," said Agus Wahyono, head of academic affairs at the MM-MBA program of University of Tarumanegara.

About 150 people have joined in the program since it was established in 2000, with about 25 percent of them expatriates.

The program opens new classes every three months and provides "sit-in" schedules for three or five prospective students. One class can only sit 30 students. Eligible students should have a minimum TOEFL score of 570 or IELTS score 6.5 and two years of work experience.

The Swiss German University, located in Bumi Serpong Damai (BSD), Banten, also offers dual degree programs. It offers undergraduate courses on Mechatronics (Mechanical Engineering, Electrical & Electronic Engineering, Information Technology), Information Technology (General IT and Business IT, Multi Media/Inter Media), Business Administration (Banking/Insurance/Auditing), Hotel and Tourism Management and Life Sciences (Pharmaceutical Engineering, Food Technology and Biomedical Engineering). The last faculty was opened just last year.

In cooperation with Technischen Universitaet Ilmenau in Germany, SGU also offers master's degree programs in business administration, business engineering, business informatics and PhD programs.

The university was established in 2000 as a joint effort between Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Indonesia. All courses at SGU are delivered in English.

The tuition fee per academic semester (semesters one, two, four, five, seven, and eight) is Rp 22 million while the fee during the internship semesters (semesters three and six) is Rp 11 million. Starting this year, scholarships are available for new students with outstanding final exam results, who will be charged only half of the price.