Postgraduate studies set a path for students' future

Undergraduate studies are that coveted time when many students embark on personal journeys of discovery.

After the awkward navigation of high school, the transition to university life is the opportunity to find oneself both academically and as an individual.

Students, some for the first time in their young lives, find themselves living away from home and interacting with others from diverse backgrounds. And that old Dutch saying that you can pick your friends but your family lands in your lap does not apply to the crap game of rubbing shoulders with fellow students at a college.

First-year dormitory life for this writer at a college in the middle of the Iowa corn fields included a jock roommate from remote Ekalaka, Montana, who rose at 5 a.m. for a morning run and would return to schlepp down to the unisex bathroom in his sweaty jockstrap; a wisp of a Sylvia Plath wannabe who never ventured into the no-no territory of the dining halls; and the pale character across the hall who strode along with eyes focused firmly on the ground and never so much as said boo during the entire year.

Yes, it is a testing time, but also one in which students explore their limitations and strengths as young adults.

Of course, hitting the books should not take second place to the various attractions and distractions of a social life. It entails crossing new academic frontiers, bouncing ideas off others and wallowing in the intellectual stimulation that a campus environment provides.

And undergraduate careers are not set in stone. Come in a economics major, exit with a degree in environmental studies. Leave high school with dreams of living the Bohemian life as an penniless artist, only to move into a comfy job on Wall Street when your college career is said and done.

The undergraduate life can be considered a feast of intellectualism, a smorgasbord of subjects to be devoured, savored and picked over as one sees fit. Partake of Psychology 101, wax lyrically over Shakespeare's sonnets and also delve into the sage words of Confucius and Lao Tze.

After four years, or however long it takes you to fix that mortar board on your head, grab that diploma in your sweaty little palm, say goodbye to your dormitory room and head out into the wide, wide world, it will be time to really get down to business. As in stepping out into the corridors of business, or keeping your place in academia for a little longer.

While your undergraduate degree may be the foot in the door in looking for a job and landing an interview, an extra degree showing a good grounding in work requirements may be what actually puts you behind a desk and with your name on the door.

A resume showing an undergraduate degree in sociology and a master's in fine arts could be the swing vote in your landing a job at a museum, say, over a candidate on a straight-study track. A well-rounded individual, as in a diverse academic background, not ample curves, are much sought after in the job market.

Then it becomes an issue of deciding where and what will be on the study agenda. If undergraduate studies were a giant grabfest and the period for making bold steps into an uncharted world, postgraduate is the time to focus on the future.

There are a number of routes to take. The traditional way is to return to graduate school to study a focused subject of one's choice, such as business management or finance or whatever it is that takes your fancy.

There is much to choose from in today's academic world and seemingly something for everyone; prestigious Cornell University in the U.S. even offers a master's degree for people with a strong interest in Southeast Asia and a background in communications.

If you are interested in postgraduate studies abroad, respective countries' educational missions based in Indonesia can be of great assistance. Special mention for those intent on heading to the sceptered isle must go to The British Council, which boasts a wealth of information on educational opportunities. As well as its main Jakarta offices, it has branches located in many major cities around the country and a homepage site on the Internet.

One of the schools it will be able to tell you about is Middlesex University in London. It is now one of the largest universities in the UK, with a population of about 25,000 students, including about 2,500 international students from more than 100 countries. Most notably, it is the only university in the UK to establish a global network of regional offices to give advice to prospective students. It also boasts links with 250 institutions worldwide, offering opportunities for exchange, progression and joint degree programs.

More specific criteria may be important in deciding on a postgraduate institution than are at play in plumping for one's undergraduate school. It is a weightier decision, with more riding on the future and, perhaps, more of the student's own money involved than his or her parents.

As Les Krantz noted in discussing postgraduate degrees in his The Best and Worst of Everything, "master's level and above attract candidates to different institutions. Prestige is a factor, as indicated by the results of this ranking -- most of the master's degrees come from "name" schools, private institutions rather than public."

Krantz noted that "location is also important -- a large number of master's degrees are earned by those who are currently in the work force or returning to school after some time spent working; these students tend to gravitate toward schools in large metropolitan areas."

The schools at the top of Krantz's rankings, Columbia University and New York University, both in New York, the United States, bore out his statement. Rounding out his list for 1991 were the University of Southern California, University of Michigan, Harvard/Radcliffe University, Boston University, Ohio State University, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin and University of Minnesota.

Closer to home and with programs to fit different needs, including those for people already working but wanting to refine their skills, is Prasetiya Mulya Business School. Established in 1982 by 80 prominent Indonesian business leaders with a mission to enhance business community development, Prasetiya Mulya is the first business school in Indonesia offering a MBA degree.

Its vision is to produce graduates who are internationally competitive. It focuses its efforts through the Prasetiya Mulya Graduate School of Management, which offers two MBA programs, and the Prasetiya Mulya Institute of Management, which is for non- degree programs.

A major emphasis of the school is on getting its students to speak up and give an opinion, no easy task in a culture where students are taught to listen and learn, and that silence of students is golden in the classroom.

But Prasetiya Mulya knows that keeping tight-lipped is no help in the business world, especially when a company's staff members look the part, in immaculate business suits and cellular phone at the ready, but literally do not know their lines.

Prasetiya Mulya's aim is to draw out the verbally challenged to actually share a little of their wisdom with the rest of us. Let's all pray hard that it works because we need someone -- apart from cuter-than-cute Joshua running around like he is on a candy overdose and doing a little prancing for the President -- to spout a few baubles of wisdom amid all the clamoring for attention of the country's leaders. After all, Joshua's attention seeking is only natural for a 6-year-old, but it will be at least 30 years before he can take up residence at the State Palace.