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.