Japan strives to win over Indonesian students

JAKARTA (JP): In an effort to lure Indonesian students away from the United States and other countries for overseas study, Japanese educational institutes held their sixth annual exhibition last weekend.

While the latest estimates show that more than 10,000 Indonesians are currently studying in the United States and a few thousand in Australia and Europe, fewer than 1,200 Indonesians chose Japan.

"Most students are on scholarships, and we hope that more will study on their own funds," said S. Mandoko, the vice chairman of the organizing committee for the two-day "Japan Education Fair" at the Sahid Jaya Hotel and Tower.

Out of 53,787 foreigners studying in Japan, 1,178 were Indonesians compared to 23,256 from mainland China and over 2,000 from Malaysia.

High tuitions, the Japanese language and living costs reaching Rp 5 million (US$2,300) a month, Mandoko acknowledged, are the main barriers.

"People would rather study in the United States if they had the money," he said.

First year tuition fees are around 800,000 yen for state universities and up to 2 million yen for private universities.

Last year 281 out of 1,178 Indonesians paid their own tuition and living costs compared to 459 on scholarships from Japan's Overseas Economic Cooperation fund and 438 funded by the Japanese ministry of education.

"We regret that many bright students have canceled plans to study in Japan because they fear the many obstacles they will have to face," reads the introduction from one of the organizers, the Association of International Education Japan (AIEJ).

A Japanese embassy official said aspirants still lack information on studying in Japan.

"This is why we need to hold this fair," said Tatshushi Nishizawa. Together with AIEJ, the embassy is also an event organizer.

As in previous years, stands offered information about accommodations and living in Japan, in addition to Japanese language institutes.

The embassy stand itself offered detailed information on the ministry of education's scholarship, the monbusho, which covers living costs.

"We offer scholarships to all government institutions who will recommend students with excellent grades," said Nishizawa.

Graduates who have benefited from scholarships said the obstacles of language and high costs are surmountable if plans are set properly.

Tinneke Mandang, a professor at the Bogor Agricultural Institute, studied agricultural mechanization in Japan, which is appropriate for Indonesia's land structure.

A student who studied robotic control at Waseda University, however, said his studies cannot yet be applied at the institution which recommended his scholarship, the Agency for Technology Assessment and Application.

"I only use my computer skills for remote sensing, which is more needed here," said Adji Nawasatono.

Without an opportunity to develop skills based on the knowledge from overseas, he said, "we could forget the skills after several years."

Better planning will help prevent such an occurrence, he said, adding that "the government could free scholarship students to work in the private sector. This way the funds for scholarships will be returned to the country."

Obligating students to work for a certain period after studying overseas, he said, disheartens students if their skills cannot be used.(anr)