English at British Council

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