Holland attracts few Indonesian students
Holland attracts few Indonesian students
By Marieke van Heek
JAKARTA (JP): An education exhibition at the Jakarta
Convention Center from May 7 to May 11 saw a fairly good
representation from the Netherlands, with about nine universities
and higher professional education institutes present.
The Netherlands is one of the less favored destinations of
Indonesian students seeking education abroad, with only 400
Indonesians currently studying there.
In comparison, the United States has 15,000 Indonesian
students, followed by Australia with 14,000. Some 2,000 are
studying in Britain and 1,100 in Japan.
The Netherlands clearly has more promotion do, as reflected in
the Educational, Training and Technology Exhibition.
Despite the crisis, according to organizers, the event was
visited by 200,000 students, although the number of students who
actually committed themselves to studying at the promoted
institutions was not clear.
The Dutch language is not the main reason why the number of
students going to the Netherlands is much lower than other
countries.
The Netherlands offers more English programs than most
European countries.
The possibilities of going to the Netherlands with a
scholarship is at a bottle-neck for students here because offers
are very limited.
Germany is now offering 300 scholarships.
Some private organizations, including the Dutch Language
Union, Netherlands Education Center (NEC) and Forum Nederland
Indonesia (FNI), have been encouraging businesses to offer
possibilities for students to study in the Netherlands.
Before 1992, the Dutch government offered 600 scholarships for
Indonesian students to study in the Netherlands.
But political strains put an end to this in 1992, mainly
because of the perceived interference of the Netherlands in
domestic affairs regarding human rights. The Netherlands then
chaired the Inter-Governmental Group on Indonesia.
But such strains did not inhibit business between the two
countries. A few years ago, some private organizations took the
initiative to restart possibilities for scholarships.
Among them was the Dutch Language Union, a private
organization promoting study of the Dutch language in other
countries.
"At the moment the Dutch Language Union offers 16 students of
the Dutch language and literature a scholarship to go to the
Netherlands or Belgium (the Dutch speaking part) for three
weeks," said Kees Groeneboer, academic consultant of the Dutch
Department of the University of Indonesia.
Henk Mahendra said he was one student who benefited from a
scholarship. He studied economic agriculture in Wageningen for
seven years.
Since 1995, the NEC has tried to expand possibilities. It is
an independent and nonprofit organization promoting academic
cooperation and mobility between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
"We want to stimulate Indonesian students to go to the
Netherlands for an international study or internship to upgrade
their education level and practical experience," said Jon Hagen,
director of NEC.
However, tickets and living costs are still paid by students.
Since the economic crisis, a few companies related to the NEC
decided to support students going to the Netherlands by offering
more scholarships.
The NEC has also started thinking about offering scholarships.
They have started developing a program for postgraduate students
in a wide scale of subjects for a study period of three months to
18 months.
Another assisting organization is FNI. Graduates with two
years work experience and a good knowledge of English (minimum of
475 points in the test of English as a foreign language), can be
sent to the Netherlands through FNI.
"Since 1995, we have sent about 100 Indonesians to the
Netherlands on internships or a combination of study and
internship," said Suni Sudradjat, FNI's project manager.
Under an invitation from a Dutch company, scholarships can be
arranged through a private organization for entrepreneurs
(VNO/NCF).
At the exhibition, promoters of the Netherlands counters said
some 400 Indonesian students asked for further information about
studying in the Netherlands.