English at British Council

I would like to respond to Mr. Adrianus Hiyung's letter of March 23. It comes at a good time, as we have just commenced our 50th year of working in Indonesia and we are seeking new initiatives as part of our celebrations.

The British Council does already offer a much greater variety of services than is implied. In addition to an extensive library with lending and reference facilities, an audio and video lending library, and a range of British periodicals and newspapers, we also provide in Indonesia:

* management of the British Government's Chevening scholarship program that provides some 60 awards to young Indonesians,

* support for a wide range of research and teaching cooperation in Indonesian universities -- from applied technologies to conservation,

* programs of seminars for managers, academics and young professionals,

* cultural and professional events, including music, drama, film, exhibitions, sport, etc.,

* advice on overseas study programs, including the availability of scholarships offered by British institutions (we have negotiated some 200 new awards this year),

Support for the development of the English language has been a top priority for us since 1948. Indeed Dr. Sjahrir originally encouraged our involvement. Probably our greatest impact is "behind the scenes", where we work with Indonesian staff in teacher institutions, colleges and universities to improve the delivery of English.

However, we also offer English courses for professionals seeking to study overseas or wishing to improve their ability to use English "on the job" -- mainly to aid-funded projects or government departments. Our professional staff and facilities place us in an excellent position to deliver the same range of programs offered in Indonesia by our colleagues through our Singapore center.

We are keen to do more to assist Indonesians during the current economic difficulties, and to this end we will be developing special programs for teachers of English, cooperating with British universities seeking to offer their courses in Indonesia, and opening our Self Study Center for the English Language to the public.

Finally, to answer Mr. Adrianus' query directly, as a foreign organization, our status does not allow us to offer programs to the general public. We are hopeful that the government's recently announced moves to deregulation in education will provide an opportunity to offer a more flexible range of courses -- just as we do in many countries in the world.

DR NEIL KEMP

The Director

The British Council, Jakarta